In ten months, the port of Riga handled 17.26 million tons of cargo, almost a third of which is various forestry cargo shipped from Riga to 22 countries around the world, most often Great Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands. The direct sea transportation route to the Americas, launched at the beginning of the year, which ensures the export of timber products produced in Latvia from the port of Riga to the USA, has also successfully justified itself.
Compared to the same period last year, October this year is more successful in both the liquid and general cargo segments – the volume of transshipped oil products has increased by 10%, + 9% compared to October 2020 for forestry cargo, + 35% for peat cargo shipped through the port of Riga .
There is also an increase in both monthly and 10-month shipments of metal and ore. During ten months, the volume of ore and metal cargo handled at the port of Riga has increased by + 19%.
Last month, a small increase was also registered for container cargo, October was the most successful month in this segment so far, importing and exporting more than 400 thousand tons of cargo to the port of Riga.
“This year, the container freight segment is experiencing various shocks related to the long-term impact of the pandemic on production, transportation and cargo handling processes around the world, significantly increasing transportation costs, disrupting existing global logistics chains and creating container shortages,” commented Freeport of Riga analysts. The lowest volume of containers in the port of Riga was registered in the second quarter of this year, but now the situation is stabilizing for the second month in a row.
As it is known, the port of Riga is the largest container cargo port in Latvia, serving 97% of the Latvian container flow. This year, the port handled a total of 3.5 million tons of container cargo.
Although a fall in grain shipments was recorded in October, the total volume of grain shipments in 10 months exceeds 2.15 million tons, which is equivalent to the volume of 10 months of the previous year.
According to the information provided by the port stevedoring companies, in the ten months of this year, 65% of all cereal products were Latvian exports. A fifth (19%) came to the port from Russia, while 14% were consignments from Lithuanian grain growers.
Ansis Zeltins, the manager of the Freeport of Riga: digital solutions that are so important for the future of the port, which are an absolute precondition for the sustainability of our industry and, at the same time, for the achievement of internationally agreed environmental goals. “
According to the calculations of the think tank CERTUS, each ton of cargo handled at the Freeport of Riga contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Latvia in the amount of 10.7 EUR.
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