Klaipėda increases record traffic as surrounding Baltic ports decline

In January, the amount of cargo transiting all Baltic Sea ports dropped but in Klaipėda traffic continues to grow.

The amount of cargo being shipped through Baltic Sea ports has significantly declined since the start of 2016 with Tallinn and Riga experiencing a 7% fall and St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and Ustluga hit by declines ranging from 10% to 18%.

At Klaipėda port the situation is the opposite – during the first month of the year, the port handled 11% or 163,000 tons more goods than in January last year.

The biggest rise was in Lithuanian grain and oil products. The Port Authority said the good results were due to authority’s, and individual companies, investment in the port’s infrastructure.

“Such significant changes in the market, particularly in the sphere of oil, do not stay for long. But this year the port‘s users declare further cargo growth and we are trying to being optimistic,” said Arvydas Vaitkus, a director of Klaipėda Seaport.

LRT