The port of Riga completes the year 2022 with an increased cargo volume

The Freeport completed 2022 with a stable increase in cargo volume indicators – a total of 23.5 million tons of cargo has been handled, which exceeds the previous year’s result by 9.4%. “This year can be regarded as successful for the port, because despite all the geopolitical upheavals, the amount of transshipped cargo has increased. But the story of the port of Riga is no longer related only to cargo and its volume in tons. Despite the challenging 2022, the companies working in the port continued to invest in their development as well as in the port’s development. Together, we have continued to improve the port’s digital characteristics and lay strong foundations for the sustainable future of the Port of Riga, by participating in innovative projects and supporting initiatives for the development of alternative energy resources. This year has demonstrated that our port is ready for challenges – development of alternative cargo delivery and logistics chains via the port of Riga, which currently is not able to compensate for the former transit flow, still makes us look into to the future with confidence,” said Ansis Zeltiņš, the Freeport of Riga CEO, evaluating the past year.

Last year the forestry cargo has managed to maintain the position of the port’s largest type of cargo. 5.5 million tons of handled wood products accounted for 23% of the port’s total cargo turnover. Compared to the previous year, the volume of cargo has slightly fallen, which is mainly related to changes in the energy markets and the decrease in the wood pellet export.

In 2022, coal transportation returned to the port of Riga, and with a turnover of 5.2 million tons, it was the second largest group of handled cargo. Compared to the previous year, when coal transshipment in the port of Riga had practically stopped, in 2022 the flow of coal increased 4.6 times. Instead of Russian coal transit, coal from Kazakhstan, Africa, Australia, Indonesia and other coal-mining places in the world is currently being handled at the port.

Container cargo with the handled volume of 460.7 thousand TEUs was the port’s third largest cargo type in 2022. Compared to last year, the turnover of containers increased by 10%. The growth is related to the reduction of the pandemic impact at the very beginning of the year, but the main increase reason might be the disruption of logistics chains due to the war and the creation of alternative cargo delivery routes via the port of Riga.

The total amount of agricultural cargo in 2022 reached 2.9 million tons and has remained at the level of the previous year. 2022 in this cargo segment was marked by the active involvement of the Port of Riga in the search for alternative export routes for Ukrainian agricultural products and in the creation of various completely new supply chains. In addition to the traditional cargo of grain, rape and legumes, several ships with Brazilian sugar on board entered the port of Riga this year, with further cargo dispatch to Uzbekistan.

In 2022, 2 938 vessels were accommodated at the port, which is by 68 ships more compared to the previous year. The increase in the total vessel number can be attributed to the successful cruise season. After two years of the pandemic, 99 cruise ships entered the port of Riga last year, which is the highest figure in the history of the port of Riga.