WASHINGTON: In January 2016, cargo handling at Latvian ports dropped 14.5% from the respective period a year ago to 5.688 million tons, LETA was told at the Transit Policy Department of the Latvian Transport Ministry. In January 2015, the Latvian ports reloaded 6.6 million tons of cargo.
Riga led other Latvian ports by cargo turnover in January this year, having handled 3.267 million tons, which was 6.8% less than in the same month in 2015. The north-western Latvian port of Ventspils came second with 1.827 million tons reloaded in January 2016, down 29.3% year-on-year, and Liepaja in south-western Latvia was third with 477,800 tons, up 8.6 year-on-year.
Bulk cargos prevailed among cargos handled by the Latvian ports in January 2016, accounting for 2.7 million tons. Liquid cargos followed with 2.2 million tons and general cargos with 753,200 tons. The steepest drop was recorded in the segment of liquid cargos which fell by 17.3%. Handling of bulk cargos were down 12.1% and general cargos dropped 14.1%.