Latvian ports increase cargo handling by 5.2 pct in 2014

Latvian ports increased cargo handling by 5.2 percent or 3.696 million tons year-on-year to 74.176 million tons in 2014, the national statistics office reported.

All Baltic ports together reloaded 161.44 million tons of cargo in 2014, which was a growth by 3.5 percent or 5.517 million tons from a year before, the Latvian statistics office said.

Of all cargos reloaded at the Baltic ports last year, 45.9 percent were handled at Latvian ports, 27.1 percent at Lithuanian ports and 27 percent at Estonian ports.

While ports of all three Baltic states -- Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- increased their cargo turnover last year, Latvia reported the steepest growth.

Cargo handling by Lithuanian ports rose 3.2 percent or 1.355 million tons year-on-year to 43.74 million tons, and Estonian ports reloaded 43.523 million tons, up 1.1 percent or 466,300 tons from 2013.

The port of Riga in Latvia led other Baltic ports by cargo turnover, reloading 41.081 million tons of cargo in 2014, up 15.8 percent from a year before. Klaipeda in Lithuania came second with 36.411 million tons of cargo handled last year at a 9 percent rise from 2013.

Estonia's largest port, Tallinn, was third with 28.321 million tons of cargo reloaded in 2014, up 0.3 percent from 2013. The north-western Latvian port of Ventspils ranked fourth with 26.206 million tons, down 8.9 percent year-on-year.

In 2013, all Baltic ports together reloaded 155.923 million tons of cargo, of which 45.2 percent were handled at Latvian ports, 27.2 percent at Lithuanian ports and 27.6 percent at Estonian ports. Endit