Port of Riga to Upgrade Rail Infrastructure

28.01.2008 (14:48)

Port of Riga will spend USD 4.5m on upgrading and extending the rail network.

The nearby railway station will be upgrade to increase the capacity of container handling, Railway Market-CEE Review reports.

Containers arriving by sea to Riga are latter moved on trains and shipped to Russia or China. Also many containers come on platforms from the two mentioned countries, as well as Belarus, Ukraine, China and many other countries.

The electric traction in the port also needs upgrading.

In 2007 the cargo turnover of the Freeport of Riga has reached 25. 9m tones, which is by 2.3% more than in 2006.

25.34m tones of goods were handled.

During 12 months of the last year 15.5m tones of bulk cargoes were handled which is by 0.9% more in comparison to 2006, when 15.4m tones were handled.

The most significant raise of the turnover was for the general cargoes reaching 5.6m tones, which is by 10,8% more if comparing with 2006 when 5m tones of general cargoes were handled.

The turnover of the liquid cargoes during 2007 has decreased by 2.2% reaching 4.8m tones. 4.9m tones of different liquid cargoes were handled in 2006.

The number of passengers served at the Freeport of Riga has increased by 79%. Last year 441 914 passengers were served. Of those 130 899 were cruise passengers. For comparison 246 885 persons served in the Freeport of Riga during 2006.