Latvia's Port of Liepaja two-month cargo volumes rose 14.9% to 939,000 tonnes
Cargo traffic at Latvia based port of Liepaja in January-February 2015 grew 14.9% compared with the same period last year, to 939,000 tonnes, the Liepaja Port Authority said.
Grain shipments through the port's bulk terminal rose by 23,8% and totaled 536,100 tonnes, handling of building materials in the reporting period increased by 4,3% to 66,000 tonnes. Timber cargo volume jumped by 68.7% to 97,700 tonnes, while transshipment of crude oil plummeted by 73.1% to 9,800 tonnes, the volume of petroleum products fell 3.3% to 29,600 tonnes.
Container trade counts in the reporting period shrank by 24% to 489,000 TEUs. The number of rolling cargo handled at the port climbed by 2% to 33,869 units.
Passenger traffic fell 7% to 5,141 people. The number of ship calls rose 1% to 219 ships.
Port of Liepaja was founded in the 90s of last century 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 2014, Liepaja terminals handled 5.29 million tonnes of cargoes.