The Freeport of Riga, which handles more than a half of the total cargo volume in the Latvian ports, in 2018 transferred 36.4 million tons of various goods, which is 8.2% more than last year. These cargo turnover figures have been driven by growth in the dry bulk and general cargo segments, which has compensated for the decrease in the liquid cargo segment.
Year 2018 broke many new cargo transfer records for the Port of Riga, with an absolute high achieved in the container and agricultural cargo groups. The container cargo flow increased by 5.2% reaching 470 thousand TEU.
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At the same time, in the agricultural cargo segment, 1.9 million toms of various products were transferred the Port, which is a 12.9% increase since last year. In 2018, a new record was also achieved in the passenger segment with 0.87 million passengers served by the Port, which more by 44.9% in comparison with 2017. 2018 was also good for the coal and timber cargo segments. Namely, the amount of coal transferred last year grew by 20.8%, while timber cargo turnover increased significantly by 34.5%.
In addition, during 2018, the Freeport of Riga implemented various strategically important projects to boost its competitive ability and expand the capacity of the Port. The largest project was the Krievu Island terminal, which was fully commissioned and is ready to accept cargoes. Moreover, an agreement with the Central Finance and Contracting Agency was signed for the European Union financing a transport junction construction from Tvaika Street to Kundziņsala Island, while resources and effort were invested in keeping the depth of the main navigation route.
Ansis Zeltiņš, CEO of the Freeport of Riga, mentioned:
‘We can see that the work that has been put in finding new cargoes, our well chosen cargo diversification strategy and the ability of the port companies to adapt to the situation have brought their results: last year the Port of Riga managed to increase its cargo transfer, including achieving the highest results in the general cargo segment in the history of the Port, record high in the container and agricultural cargo segments and the record number of passengers served by the Port
