Freight volume handled in the Port of Liepaja, Latvia in January-March 2017 climbed by 13.1%, year-on-year, to 1,634,200 tonnes, the Port Authority told IAA PortNews.
In the reporting period grain shipments fell by 16.3% to 634,900 t, construction materials – up 14.7% to 131,800 t, forest cargo – down 32.7% to 78,800 t, oil products – up 41.3% to 92,100 t, crude oil – down 56.6% to 6,300 t.
Container traffic doubled to 891 TEUs, Ro-Ro – down 15% to 6,703 units. Passenger traffic decreased by 27% to 5,576 people.
The number of ship calls grew by 6% to 364 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 2016, throughput of Liepaja port was 5.68 million tonnes.