OREANDA-NEWS. January 12, 2009. According to preliminary results, the year 2008 in terms of cargo turnover was the most successful year in the history of the port of Klaipeda, reported the press-centre of Port of Klaipeda.

Although the exact data will be published by the middle of January of this year having recorded all data of December, the statistics available today show that this year the port achieved  four new records in the history of the Port of Klaipeda -  the biggest total turnover of all types of cargo - 29,88 million tons, (+9,2 % more than in 2007), the biggest turnover of oil products -  9,36 million tons (+31,1 % more than in 2007), the biggest turnover of bulk fertilizers - 5,56 million tons (+5,7 % more than in 2007) and the biggest turnover of container units ( 373,3 thousand TEU, i.e. +16,1 % more than in 2007).
 
In 2008, in comparison to 2007, the higher rate of growth in terms of turnover was recorded in handling of  oil products (+2,22 million tons, 9,36 million tons handled), containers (in terms of tonnage) (+0,50 million tons, 3,51 million tons handled), agriculture products (+0,42 million tons, 1,66 million tons handled), bulk fertilizers (+0,30 million tons, 5,56 million tons handled) and raw sugar (+0,14 million tons, 0,34 million tons handled).

Handling of container units has increased by +16,1 % (TEU),  and handling of Ro-ro units has dropped by -8,1 %.

During 2008, in comparison with 2007, the total number of passengers arriving to the port by ferried has decreased by -1,7 %  and amounted to 280,3 thousand.

In January-December, 2008 Butinge Terminal handled 9,07 million tons of crude oil (total handling volume increased almost twice).

In December, 2008 the port of Klaipeda handled 2,17 million tons, i.e. monthly turnover has decreased by -11,7 %, in comparison with December, 2007.

Cargo Handling at the Port of Klaipeda in December 2007 and 2008
In December, 2008 an increase was recorded only in handling of liquid cargo (+17,7 %), while handling of dry and bulk cargo as well as general cargo has decreased by  -22,2 %  and -30,0 % respectively in comparison to December, 2007.

Growth of liquid cargo turnover resulted from increased handling of oil products (859,88 thousand tons of oil handled in December, 2008, while in December, 2007 – 592,46 thousand tons, change +267,42 thousand tons) at the port of Klaipeda.  Drop in handling of liquid fertilizers continues (52,67 thousand tons handled in December, 2008, 178,83 thousand tons handled in December,  2007 – change -126,17 thousand tons).

Having compared dry cargo nomenclature of December 2008 and 2007, handling figures have increased only for agricultural products (+75,98 thousand tons, 210,88 thousand tons handled). The highest drop rate in December, 2008 was recorded in handling of dry fertilizers (-171,54 thousand tons, 329,69 thousand tons handled) and raw sugar (-24,67 thousand tons, 12,53 thousand tons handled), in comparison to the same period of 2007.

In terms of general cargo nomenclature in December, 2008 handling figures mainly decreased for Ro-ro cargoes (in terms of tonnage) (-83,34 thousand tons, 211,74 thousand tons handled), containers (in terms of tonnage) (-42,24 thousand tons, 236,68 thousand tons handled), timber (-38,25 thousand tons, 34,77 thousand tons handled), frozen cargoes (-29,71 thousand tons, 24,33 thousand tons handled) and packed fertilizers (-27,93 thousand tons, 8,90 thousand tons handled).

In December, 2008 the turnover of container units (TEU) at the port has decreased by 7,6 % in comparison to December, 2007 (27.200 TEU handled in December, 2008, change -2.225 TEU). Handling figures of Ro-Ro units have decreased by -25,6 % (11.887 units handled in December, 2008, change -4.082 units).

12,93 thousand passengers arrived to the port of Klaipeda in December, 2008, i.e. the number of passengers has decreased by -8,7 % in comparison to the corresponding period of 2007.
 
Handling figures of Butinge Terminal in December, 2008 have increased by +58,8 %  and amounted to 802,18 thousand tons in comparison to corresponding period of 2007.

Regardless of decrease in handling figures during the last month of 2008, it is expected that having entered and recalculated all statistical data of cargo handling in December,  the turnover of the year 2008 at the Port of Klaipeda would amount to 30,0 million tons.