Cargo, Good for Business, Latvia, Logistics, Railways, Transport

LDz representatives said that the trend was an indication of freight transportation over increasingly long distances in Latvian territory. The fact that freight transportation by rail increased over the past three months is quite unusual for summer. In June this year, freight transportation by rail jumped 28.5% against the same month last year to 4 mln tons.

Transportation of domestic, export, import and transit freight increased during the six months of this year, with a 35.7% increase recorded for mineral cargos, 42.6% growth registered for timber cargos and transportation of chemical cargos rising 28.4%. Compared to June 2018, transportation of coal by rail increased by 49.5%, while transportation of oil products rose 7.2%.

According to information provided by LDz, the share of Belarussian freight in total import and transit freight expanded to 25.5% this year from 15.7% in 2017. The total amount of freight carried by rail between Belarus and Latvia reached 14.7 mln tons, with Belarussian freight accounting for 5.75 mln tons and growing 56.4% against the same period last year.

Freight transportation from Latvia to Belarus in the first half of 2018 grew 19.1% against the same period a year ago. The export freight consisted mainly of food products, metals and ferroalloys, as well as freight of other types.

Traffic of transit freight between Latvia and Belarus totaled 1.38 mln tons, which was 2.1 times bigger than a year ago.