OREANDA-NEWS. January 11, 2011. Annual volume of handled cargo at the Freeport of Riga increased in 2010 by 2.5% as compared with 2009’s figures, to 30.475 million tons, the Port Authority statistics said.

In the reporting period, bulk cargo volume was down by 7% to 17,437 million tons, while general cargo surged by 46.5% to 6,453 million tons, liquid bulk cargo - by 0.3% to 6,584 million tons. The port’s cargo throughput increase was fueled by the volume of coal (37.9%) and petroleum products (21.4%). The share of wood products made up 14.6%, containers - 8.3%, fertilizers - 4.5%. In 2010, the port handled 3,953 vessels (vs 3894 ships a year earlier).

Freeport of Riga is located on the River Daugava (Western Dvina). The port’s total area is 6.348 ha, length of berths – 13.818 m, maximum draft of vessels at berth – 12.2 m. Transit cargo makes up 80% of overall freight traffic, carried to / from the CIS countries. In 2009, the port’s cargo throughput rose 0.5% to 29.72 million tons.