Two-month cargo volume at Latvian port of Liepaja drops 16% to 817,000 tonnes
Cargo throughput at the terminals of Latvia based Port of Liepaja in January-February 2014 shrank by 16% compared with the same period in 2013, to 817,000 tonnes, the Port Authority told IAA PortNews.
The two-month volume includes 432,900 tonnes of grain, a 29.5% gain year-on-year, 57,900 tonnes of timber cargo (a 41.9% decline). Shipments of building materials increased by 36.9% to 63,300 tonnes. Handling of petroleum products fell 13.6% to 35,400 tonnes, while crude oil volume soared by 2.2 times to 36,400 tonnes.
Container traffic grew 26% to 640,000 TEUs. Transshipment of Ro-Ro cargo fell by 4.5% to 4,518 units. Passenger traffic through the port was down 14% to 5,553 people. The number of arrivals declined by 12% to 216 ships.
Port of Liepaja was founded in the 1990s at the former Soviet Union’s naval base. Liepaja ranks third port of Latvia by handled cargo volume. Half of the port’s cargo throughput is fueled by crude oil and bulk cargoes imported from the CIS countries, largely from Belorussia. In 2013, Liepaja terminals handled 4.84 million tonnes of cargo.