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

In the first half of 2014 30.8 mln tons of the freight was carried by rail, which is an increase of 4.7% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Freight traffic by rail by quarters, mln t

Data source: Central Satistical Bureau of Latvia

National freights by rail comprised 0.4 mln tons – 7.5% less than in January – June 2013. In international traffic the volume of freight carried by rail rose by 1.4 mln tons or 4.9%. Import freight traffic grew by 7.3%, but export freight traffic – by 3.7%. Freight traffic in transit through Latvia reduced by 35%. Freight traffic by rail to/from Latvian ports comprised 84.2% of international traffic and rose by 7.8%.

In the first half 28.1 mln tons of the freight was carried by road, which is a rise of 0.5 mln tons (2%) compared to January–June of the previous year. Growth in the volume of freights was mainly determined by increase of 23.9% in the transportation of products of agriculture, hunting and forestry and rise of 7.2% in transportation of wood and of products of wood.

Freight traffic by road by type of transport

The bulk (79.4%) of the total freight volumes by road was national freight, where the indicator remained at the level of the previous year (increase of 0.2%). International freight traffic rose by 0.5 million tons (9.4%).

Almost one third (31.3%) of the total volume of freights carried by road were comprised by metal ores and other mining and quarrying products and peat, 23.6% – products of agriculture, hunting and forestry, fish and other fishing products, but 13% – by wood and products of wood (except furniture), paper and paper products.

Main groups of goods in transport by road in the first half of 2014, %

Data source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

In the first half of this year by the oil products pipeline 3.3 mln tons of oil products were transported, a decrease of 7.3% on the corresponding period of the previous year.

The data compiledon passenger traffic by public transport in the first half grew by 1.4%, as compared to January–June of the previous year.

Passenger traffic by public transport

Every second passenger of those who used public transport was carried by regular bus traffic lines. In the first half 72.2 mln passengers were carried by regular bus traffic lines, which is an increase of 0.9% compared to the first half of the previous year. The majority (99.7%) of these passengers were carried by national bus traffic. The number of passengers carried by national transport rose by 0.9%, of which in urban routes – by 2.9%. In regional local routes the number of passengers carried reduced by 6.4% and in regional interurban routes – by 3.8%. Also, the number of passengers carried in international transport routes dropped by 7.9%.

In the first half 9.4 mln passengers were carried by rail, which is a drop of 0.9% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. 98.5% of all passengers carried by rail were carried by national transport. The number of passengers carried by national transport by rail decreased by 0.7%, but in international transport (mainly between Latvia and Russia) – by 16.3%.

In the first half of 2014 46.8 mln passengers were carried by urban electrified transport, which is an increase of 2.7% compared to the January–June of the previous year. The number of passengers carried by trolleybus grew by 0.3%, but by tramway – by 5.5%.