Cargo traffic at Latvia's Port of Liepaja climbed by 1.2% to 5.15 mln t in 11M’16

Freight volume handled in the Port of Liepaja, Latvia between in January and November 2016 climbed by 1.2%, year-on-year, to 5,151,700 tonnes, the Port Authority told IAA PortNews.

In the reporting period grain shipments climbed by 0.3% to 2,297,800 t, construction materials – down 14.3% to 426,000 t, forest cargo – down 33.3% to 282,900 t, oil – down 6.4% to 42,400 t, oil products – up 10.4% to 219,700 t.

Container traffic shrank by 35% to 2,176 TEUs, Ro-Ro – down 10% to 28,323 units. Passenger traffic decreased by 17% to 31,048 people.

The number of ship calls grew by 2% to 1,232 units.

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 2015, throughput of Liepaja port was 5.61 million tonnes.