THE weakening of the Russian economy is hitting Baltic ports of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania by driving down container volumes, particularly containerised transshipments to Russia.
In the first half of the year, total box traffic plunged 14 per cent across the three Baltic states to 541,010 TEU, according to the figures compiled by the port authorities.
The loss of Russian business is reflected by first-half statistics that show 94,500 TEU imported by Russia were first handled through ports in the Baltic states.
This is a significant figure when taking into account that traffic through Russia's Black Sea ports of St Petersburg and Ust-Luga amounted to 410,000 TEU over the same period, reported the Journal of Commerce.
Containers bound for Russia account for 80 per cent of Tallinn's total containerised trade, 65 per cent of Klaipeda's and 60 per cent of Riga's.
The port to take the biggest blow from the economic crisis was Estonia's Tallinn sea port, where volumes dived by 22.4 per cent 119,930 TEU, while Lithuania's Klaipeda port saw traffic drop 17 per cent to 209,930 TEU and Latvia's Riga port's volumes dropped by 4.2 per cent to 208,950 TEU.
Last year Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania handled a total of 1.1 million TEU.
WORLD SHIPPING
13 September 2015 - 20:15
West's dispute with Russia cuts into Baltic ports transshipment trade
THE weakening of the Russian economy is hitting Baltic ports of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania by driving down container volumes, particularly containerised transshipments to Russia.
WORLD SHIPPING
13 September 2015 - 20:15
West's dispute with Russia cuts into Baltic ports transshipment trade
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