OREANDA-NEWS. July 07, 2011. Cargo throughput of the port of Ventspils (Latvia) in January-June this year grew by 6% compared with the same period of 2010, to 14,481,000 tons, the Ventspils Port Authority said.

Transshipment of oil products grew by 3% to 7,439,000 tons, shipments of chemicals rose by 1.6 times to 76,000 tons, fertilizers - by 19% to 1,47 million tons, handling of coal surged 47% to 2.99 million tons, while iron ore volume dropped by 59% to 624,000 tons. Six-month volume of handled sugar rose by 2.3 times to 141,000. Transshipment of grain cargo plummeted by 14 times to 27,000 tons, of wood chips - shrank by 29% to 72,000 tons, timber cargo - down 4%, to 287,000 tons.

In the reporting period handling of Ro-Ro cargoes increased by 39% to 873,000 tons. Passenger traffic grew by 2.4 times to 19,633 people. The number of ship calls increased by 11%, to 950 vessels.

Latvia’s Free port of Ventspils is a deepwater ice-free port. The country’s premier port ranks among leading ports on the Baltic Sea and top 20 European ports. The port can accommodate Aframax size tankers of 130.000 DWT and Panamax vessels of 75.000 DWT. The port encompasses 2623,9 hectares with terminals for handling oil products, crude oil, liquid chemicals, mineral fertilizer, metals, forest products, coal, grain, juice concentrates, containers and Ro-Ro cargoes. In 2010, the port’s throughput was down 6.8% on a year earlier, to 24,815,000 tons.