55.6 million tons of freight were transported on Latvian Railway infrastructure in 2015.

The volume of freight in 2015 decreased slightly by 2.4% compared to 2014 when the volume of freight reached 57 million tons. The fall is small against the planned decrease of 20%.

Exported freight via stations at Latvian ports diminished considerably – by 37% (2.8 million tons of freight transported). Imported freight decreased by 2.3% (48 million tons of freight transported). At the same time, there was a considerable increase in domestic and overland transit transport – 1.6 million and 2.84 million tons of freight respectively, which is 33% and 53.7% more than in 2014.

With regard to the types of freight, the transport of the main group of freight – oil and oil products – grew by 2.2% (21.76 million tons), but the transport of the second largest group – coal – fell by 5.2% (19.1 million tons).

The volume of transported ferrous metals constituted 1.2 million tons of freight, which is 23.9% less than in 2014. The volume of transported mineral fertilisers decreased by 20.3% (3.7 million tons). The volume of transported mineral substances fell by 4% (1.1 million tons).

The volume of transported timber products grew by 52.5% (1.5 million tons), the volume of chemical cargoes increased by 4% (1.8 million tons). There was a considerable increase in the transport of sugar (+31.9%), as well as grain and flour products (+25.7%), 124 thousand and 1.8 million tons respectively.

(Source: LDz)