Latvia's Port of Riga two-month cargo volume rises 4.7% to 6.83 million tonnes

Handling of exports, imports and transit cargo at the terminals of Latvia based Free Port of Riga  in January-February 2015 increased by 4.7% compared to the same period last year, to 6,83 million tonnes, the Port Authority statistics said.

Coal shipments in the reporting period rose 12.9% to 2,550,500 tonnes, scrap metal volumes jumped by 49.6% to 129,100 tonnes. At the same time handling of petroleum products fell by 3.6% to 1,833,700 tonnes, of wood pellets - by 20.6% to 80,800 tonnes, handling of ore dropped by 8.3% to 45,300 tonnes.

Container traffic increased by 3% to 63,167 TEUs. The number of passengers carried to / from the port shrank by 40.6% to 61,352 people. There were no cruise passengers in January-February.

Riga, Latvia based Free Port of Riga lies on both banks of the River Daugava (Western Dvina), The port encompasses 6.348 hectares, including 13,818-meter waterfront with berths max depths of 16 meters (ship draft - 12.2 m). Transit cargoes account for 80 percent of overall freight traffic moved to / from the CIS countries. In 2014, cargo throughput at the Port of Riga totaled 41,08 million tonnes.