Cargo, Latvia, Markets and Companies, Port, Transport

Bulk cargos prevailed among cargos handled by Latvian ports in 2016, accounting for 32.806 mln tons and dropping 1.8% from 2015. Coal accounted for 16.728 mln tons of all bulk cargos handled in the said period, down 12.1% y-o-y, chemical bulk cargos rose 16% to 3.293 mln tons, and woodchip cargos surged 26.4% to 1.302 mln tons.

Handling of liquid cargos fell 24.1% y-o-y to 19.483 mln tons in 2016, with oil products prevailing among liquid cargos and dropping 24.3% to 18.713 mln tons. Crude oil handling at the Latvian ports shrank 38.9% from 2015 to 54,500 tons.

General cargos rose 2.9% y-o-y to 10.828 mln tons in 2016. This amount included 4.097 mln tons of container cargos, up 5.7%, 3.415 mln tons of timber, down 2.8%, and 2.782 mln tons of roll on/roll off cargos, up 5% compared to 2015.

Riga led other Latvian ports by cargo turnover in 2016, having handled 37.07 mln tons, which was 7.5% less than in 2015. The north-western Latvian port of Ventspils came second with 18.809 mln tons reloaded in 2016, down 16.5% year-on-year, and Liepaja in south-western Latvia was third with 5.68 mln tons, up 1.2% y-o-y.

Among Latvia's small ports, Skulte had the largest cargo turnover in 2016 at 751,700 tons, which was a 28.5% rise from 2015. The total amount of cargos reloaded at Latvia's small ports last year was 1.556 mln tons, up 13.2% y-o-y.

Latvian ports handled 69.569 mln tons of cargo in 2015, which was 6.2% less than a year before.