In January 2016 3.27 million. tons of various cargo were handled at the Freeport of Riga, that is by 6.8% or 238 thousand tons less compared to the relevant reporting period of 2015, the port’s press center says. Although the transshipment volume handled in January decreased, it corresponds to the average indicators related to cargo, handled over the last five years at the Freeport (3.25 million tons).
The Freeport of Riga Board Chairman Mr. Andris Ameriks stressed: “Unfortunately, we still continue to feel the effects of geopolitical events. However, being aware of the potential impact of the EU and Russia’s sanctions on the handled cargo volume, the Freeport of Riga Board forecasted a 10% reduction in 2016; therefore we expected an 8-9% decrease in the revenues in 2016 compared to 2015. It is important to emphasize, that despite the cargo turnover drop, the Freeport of Riga maintains its status of the Baltic leading port”. In addition, it should be noted that currently stevedores are still extending and concluding new contracts with cargo carriers, and therefore more accurate trends of transit cargo flow will occur around March.
In January 2016, compared to the first months of 2015, the turnover decreased in all cargo segments - 1, 98 million tons of dry bulk cargo (-3.4% or -69.6 thousand tons), 871.9 thousand tons of liquid bulk cargo (-6.2% or -58.1 thousand tons) and 412.2 thousand tons of various general cargo (-21.1% or -110.3 thousand tons) were handled at the Freeport.
In the dry bulk segment the largest increase was registered in cereals (+60.6 thousand tons, or 2.1 times more), bulk chemicals (+ 16.5%, or +41.9 thousand tons) and wood chips (+77, 6% or +31.2 thousand tons). Although 1.18 million tons of coal were handled at the port in January, compared to January 2015 the volume decreased by 9.8% (-127.8 thousand tons.).
The volume of handled container cargo decreased in January as well. Despite the fact that the number of container ships’ calls to the port correspond to January 2015 figures, the transported cargo turnover decreased by 21.2% (257.4 thousand tons; -69.2 thousand tons). However, as it has already been mentioned, containerized cargo volume decline at all the ports of the Baltic sea eastern coast was observed as early as in 2015.The experts attributed that to the introduction of economic sanctions by the European Union and Russia, that had a negative impact on commodity flows, which make up the bulk of the containerized cargo volume.
In January 2016, 868.4 thousand tons of oil products were handled at the Freeport of Riga, it is by 5.6% less (-51.1 thousand tons) in comparison with January 2015.
In January 2016, the port served 33.4 thousand passengers, which is by 5.4% more compared to the beginning of 2015. The positive dynamics was enhanced by a cruise ship, calling the Freeport of Riga, that brought 1.5 thousand passengers to the capital of Latvia.