Baltic, Latvia, Port, Transport

"With the exception of Klaipeda port [in Lithuania] where Lithuanian cargos make up 80% of total turnover, cargo turnovers are falling in all ports – Riga, Ventspils and Tallinn. The decline in Riga is less steep [than in other Baltic ports],” he said.

The reasons behind the cargo reduction are the EU-Russia mutual sanctions and warm winter which caused a decline in coal transportation, Usakovs said.

"The situation is tough but financial loss cannot yet be estimated. It has to be noted that different companies in the port employ about 20,000 people, paying them higher-than-average wages. As far as I know, there have not been any layoffs yet but they can't be ruled out,” he said.

Riga port can serve only transit between the East and the West and any significant diversification of the cargo routes is impossible, Usakovs said.

In the first four months of this year, cargo turnover at the Freeport of Riga dropped 12.8% from the same period in 2015 to 12.3 million tons. The cargo turnover in April this year was 3.15 million tons, up 6% from March.