Klaipeda overtakes Tallinn in container throughput

Lithuania's port of Klaipeda has, in recent years, overtaken Estonia's port of Tallinn in terms of annual container throughput.
According to statistics published by the Baltic News Service, Klaipeda's lead over Tallinn was consolidated with this year's first quarter (Q1) results which showed the Lithuanian port handled 92,650 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) compared to Tallinn's 54,632 TEUs.
Klaipeda handled 33.5% more containers in Q1 compared to the same period last year, while Tallinn's year-on-year increase was 11.4%.
Klaipeda port executives have attributed its strong growth to a boom in overall trade in the Baltic region.
Local sources have pointed to rail networks which bring containers from Moscow and Odessa into Klaipeda as the reason for Klaipeda's burgeoning container throughput.
In terms of overall cargo handling however, Klaipeda still lags behind Tallinn.
Q1 freight volume for Tallinn was 15.4 million tonnes compared to Klaipeda's 8.6 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, construction work on a second container terminal in Klaipeda has begun, according to the Baltic Business Weekly.