In 2020, the amount of various wood products handled by the terminals of the port of Ventspils increased by 7%, reaching the best score of the past 10 years. The main handler of this group of cargoes in the port of Ventspils is "Ventplac" Ltd., a company which managed to maintain stable turnover of cargo comparing to year 2019.
The market of timber and various wood products in 2020 has been influenced by the situation, created by Covid-19 virus. For example, due to remote work and studies, as well as suspension of tourism and entertainment industries, consumption of paper has decreased globally, therefore also demand for the raw material for production of cellulose has lowered significantly. The market of timber has been also significantly affected by the spread of bark beetles in Germany and Scandinavian countries. Despite these and some other disturbing conditions, in 2020 in the terminals of the port of Ventspils 728 thousand tons of wood products have been transhipped: timber, chips, wood pellets, scobs, bark. These cargoes are being transhipped in the terminals of joint-stock company "Ventspils tirdzniecības osta", "Noord Natie Ventspils Terminals" Ltd. and "Ventplac" Ltd.
The biggest volume of these products has been transhipped in the dry cargo terminal between the bridge of Venta and the bridge Apvedtilts, rented by "Ventplac" Ltd. The manager of the port of Ventspils, Mr Andris Purmalis, awarded the Chairman of the Board of "Ventplac" Ltd. Mr Aivars Baude with the Letter of Gratitude for good results in the turnover of cargoes in 2020.
In 2020, in the operating terminals of the port of Ventspils totally 12,9 million tons of cargo were transhipped, which is 37% less than the year before. The main reason for the decreased amount of cargo is the export of coal, which was almost suspended in year 2020 - the amount of transhipped coal decreased by 90% compared to year 2019, as Russia, the main country of origin of these cargoes, is almost fully transhipping it in their own ports, which was purposefully planned for many years. Due to economical crisis caused by Covid-19 and oil prices the demand for such energy resources as oil products has also fallen, while being one of the biggest cargo segments in the port of Ventspils. The volume of such cargoes in the port has decreased by 18%. At the same time, the volume of other cargoes is relatively stable and in several segments, such as timber and various agricultural products, it is even increasing.