OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2012. According to performance results in the first half of the year 2012, the Port of Riga took a leading position among the Baltic ports. It handled 18.87% million tons or 25% of the total cargo volume across the region. In general Latvian ports handled 52.3% of the total turnover at Baltic ports. Whereas at Tallinn and Klaipeda ports cargo turnover declined by 17.7% and 8.5%, respectively, the Baltic Course reports.

Latvian Ports Gain, Tallinn and Klaipeda Ports Lose

Bulk cargo sector saw cargo turnover grow at all ports of the region except Klaipeda which experienced a sharp drop in turnover of the port’s dominating bulk cargo – chemical bulk cargo. General cargo saw its volumes increase in Riga, Tallinn, and Liepaja (Liepвja) in the first 6 months of the year. In the liquid cargo segment the sharpest rise in volumes was observed in Ventspils (+23.8%), in Riga it grew by 1.5% while at all other Baltic ports liquid cargo turnover plummeted in the first half of the year. The total containerised cargo turnover at Baltic ports increased by 9% – 4.8 million tons of containerised cargos were handled in the first 6 months of 2012. The number of containers went up in all ports except Klaipeda. Analysis of the turnover at Baltic ports by month shows that Riga handled the biggest volumes of cargos each month except April, thus allowing Riga to maintain its leading position in the region.
 
In the first half of 2012 the total cargo turnover at the Port of Riga saw an 11.7% growth year-on-year; in Tallinn the volume of shipments decline by 17.7% and in Klaipeda – by 8.5%. Thus turnover at the Port of Riga exceeds that of Tallinn by 2.92 million tons and Klaipeda by 1.94 million tons.

Rise in Cruise Passenger Numbers
Cruise routes are planned several years in advance, thus the Port of Riga intends to receive 92 cruise ships this year. In the first half of this year 34 cruise ships came into the port – 10 more than in the same period last year. Thus the number of cruise passengers grew by 30.7% amounting to 26.1 thousand cruise passengers. According to the passenger statistics, TALLINK regular line services were mostly used by Latvians, Lithuanians, and Swedes – the same as in the respective period last year. They constituted 88% of the passengers served by this line. Whereas in the first 6 months of this year Riga was chosen as a cruise tourist destination mostly by Germans (45%), Spaniards (13%), Russians (13%), and Americans (11%). It should be noted that due to the growth in passenger numbers on the Spanish cruise operator's Iberocruceros ships, the number of Spanish cruise tourists soared by 67% (3350 passengers in total) during the cruise season of 2012.