English
Freeport of Riga began 2012 as the biggest port in the Baltics in terms of cargo turnover. As the year came to a close the port not only managed to maintain its leading position among the Baltic States but also saw its cargo volumes soar by 5.8%. Cargo turnover, if assessed by the total capacity of the state’s biggest ports, in Latvian ports last year exceeded cargo volumes handled in Lithuanian and Estonian ports taken together.
Results of implementation of multifunctional port development strategy at the Freeport of Riga serve as proof that investments of the Freeport of Riga Authority have been positioned in the right way. Last year’s statistics also show that investments into deep water dock construction, shipping route deepening, access route reconstruction and other infrastructure objects in recent years made the Port of Riga even more competitive and attractive to new investors and more accessible to the big ships in the Baltic Sea. It is also proven by the fact that percentage of ships at the Port of Riga between 2005 and 2010 with GT value over 10,000 t soared from 20% to 35%. Results show that the Freeport of Riga can offer the necessary logistics infrastructure and the largest cargo handling capacity in the Baltic Region.
In 2012 bulk cargo sector saw its volumes rise by 8.3% amounting to 21.63 million tons. Coal accounted for the biggest share of the growth with continuous rise in demand on the global markets. Overall 14.9 million tons of coal were handled at the Port of Riga in 2012.
General cargo segment grew by 1.9%. 6.65 million tons were shipped in general cargo segment in 2012 – the majority or 3.63 million tons were containerized cargos which saw 15.1% (over half a million tons) growth year-on-year.
Liquid cargo segment experienced 2.6% increase. Thus 7.77 million tons of liquid cargo, mostly oil products, were handled at terminals of the Port of Riga. Liquefied gas shipment volumes saw 62% rise year-on-year. It has been a positive trend so far as gas shipments currently account for an insignificant share of the overall cargo structure.
The number of passengers served grew by 5% amounting to 815 thousand. Cruise ship passenger numbers saw an increase by roughly 20 thousand year-on-year amounting to 83,091 passengers.
