Latviski
Having transshipped 9.48 million tons of cargos or 25% of the total amount of cargos transshipped in this region in the first quarter of this year, the Port of Riga has with certainty become the leader among ports of the Baltic States. It should be noted that per the amount of handled cargos the Port of Riga is also the third among the fourteen ports on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
In total, 38.4 million tons of cargos have been transshipped in the first three months of this year in the ports of the Baltic States – Riga, Ventspils, Liepāja, Klaipeda, Butinge, and Tallinn; it is by 5.8% more than in the period of account of 2011. Assessing in national scale – Latvia is the biggest transporter of sea cargos among the Baltic States with the most rapidly growing dynamics: the amount of cargos in Riga this year, as compared with the period of account of last year, has increased by 23.6% (9.48 million tons), in Liepaja – by 42.9% (1.7 million tons), but in Ventspils – by 19.1% (8.56 million tons). In total, 19.72 million tons have been handled in the ports of Latvia, which is half of the total cargo turnover in the region. It should be noted that cargo turnover in Tallinn and Klaipeda in the accordant period of account, as compared with previous year, has decreased on average by 9% in each.
Though all ports of the region are multifunctional, their operational indices in the first quarter of 2012 approve also a certain port “specialization” developed in last years – Riga is the biggest port of bulk cargos in the region (41% of the total amount), Tallinn is the leading port in the segment of liquid cargos (32% of the total amount), but Klaipeda is the biggest port handling general cargos (37% of the total amount).
Increase of activity of the Port of Riga can be explained with improvement of infrastructure and deepening of ship passes which allows bigger vessels to enter the Port of Riga and notably improve competitiveness of the Port of Riga. The number of vessels with capacity above 40 000 GT that have entered the port approve the fact. This year such vessels form one third part of all ships that have entered the port, while last year there were only 3 vessels of such capacity in the accordant period of the last year.
928 traders have entered the Freeport of Riga in the first three months of 2012. The number of vessels in the period of account has increased by 6%, and simultaneously total GT of vessels has also increased by 9%.
Approximately 81% of all cargos transshipped in the first quarter of 2012 were transit cargos. 8.4 million tons were forwarded with vessels from the port, but 1.1 million tons of cargos were received.
