Freeport of Riga turnover has increased in all cargo categories

Evaluating the increase across categories, the tendencies of the previous 4 months have been maintained – the largest increase, of 43.4%, is in liquid cargo, especially in the crude oil product group. Altogether, the Freeport of Riga has handled 3.65 million tonnes of crude oil products this year. With this increase, the proportion of crude oil products has increased to 25.9% of total tonnage. By comparison, in the years 2009 and 2010, crude oil products were at 22% and 21%, respectively, of the total turnover. Andris Ameriks, chairman of the Freeport of Riga board of directors, comments: “The transshipment of crude oil products is economically convenient for the port and also for Latvian economics as a whole. The more expensive the cargo, the larger the profit remaining in Latvia. The initiative of the stevedores and the infrastucture offered by the freeport has been sufficient to increase the turnover of crude oil products. At the same time, it is a confirmation of our abilities to direct a strategic plan to diversify cargo in the port – that is, to minimize risk, if the cargo situation changes in the global market, due to political or economic processes.”

Transshipment of miscellaneous cargo also continues to increase. In the five months of the current year, compared to the beginning of 2010, it has increased by 9.3% and has reached 2.6 million tonnes. In this category, the major proportion consists of container cargo, which comprises 1.2 million tonnes and has increased by 19.9%, as well as lumber, which is at 1.1 million tonnes and has increased by 4.2%. On the other hand, transshipment of fish products has decreased. Ameriks explains: “Food and fish product transshipments have a small role at the Freeport of Riga, and, although percentually the decrease is quite large, when looked at in terms of tonnage against the total tonnage, it is tiny. Several discussions have occurred with a Brazilian import-export company, which is planning to locate a food product logistical centre at the Riga port, to expand business into Europe and Asian countries. For this reason, we have reason to plan for an increase in the turnover of food products and this category will become more important in the total activity of our port.”

The bulk cargo category has long held the majority proportion of cargo transshipment at the Riga port – in 2009 it was at 63%, in 2010 at 57%, but in the first five months of 2011 it is at 55% - or 7.8 million tonnes of total port turnover. The decrease in its proportion, while maintaining an 8% increase compared to the same period last year, is a positive indicator, which shows the diversification of cargo coming through the port, and, as mentioned before, a minimization of risk. While grain and sugar transshipment proportions are small – altogether about 260 thousand tonnes, the slow increase of this cargo category is a positive trend. Amounts of this cargo handled have increased more than one and a half times. In the same way, transshipment of iron alloys, scrap metal and other metals has practically doubled. Amounts of ore handled also continue to climb, this year surpassing 300 thousand tonnes. The largest proportion of this cargo category goes to coal, whose volume has increased by 9.2% and stands at 5.4 million tonnes. Says Ameriks: “It is known that a contract for an additional 10 million tonnes of transshipment cargo at the Riga port has been signed. This is a significant amount, so we cannot delay with the Krievu island project, where plans have been made to place several modern bulk cargo terminals. In this way, with coal cargo amounts increasing, environmental effects can be reduced. At the same time, we are working on the creation of a new deep-water station, because the cargo capacity of ships arriving at the Freeportof Riga keeps increasing, and most stations in the port are too shallow for them.” In May, just as in April, the port handled 3.2 million tonnes, which confirms the stable work of port terminals and the goal-oriented, strategic development plan. 379 ships were serviced in May, which is the largest number of ships serviced in a month so far this year.

It must be reminded that in the first three months of this year, when port functions were complicated and slowed by thick ice and low temperatures, an average of 2.5 tonnes of cargo were handled per month.

The arrival and expectation of cruise ship passengers already received this year can be evaluated as the result of previous years' work. In these five months, the Riga port has received 269 thousand passengers, an 18% increase over the beginning of the previous year. It is veryimportant that the number of cruise passengers is increasing, this year already at 17 thousand, and almost 42% more than last year. This year 70 cruise ships are to be received in Riga, which will bring at least 60 thousandtourists toRiga. Last year, 58 thousand tourists arrived in Riga on 64 cruise ships.

On May 25, the cruise ship Costa Pacific tied up at the Riga passenger port. It is the largest cruise ship ever making port in Riga. On deck were 3000 passengers. Costa Pacific will arrive in Riga another 3 times this year, and it is planned that each of these trips will be carrying 3700 passengers. On June 8, however, the cruise ship Mein Schiff 2 arrived at the Riga port, carrying 1900 passengers. Mein Schiff 2 will also be arriving in Riga twice more this summer.