According to preliminary estimations, the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda handled a record 29.877 million tons of cargo in 2008, up 9.2 percent compared with the year-earlier, the Klaipeda Port Authority. "The precise data will only be known in mid-January. Yet the data available now show that the port achieved four new handling records in 2008 - record overall cargo handling, record handling of petroleum products, record handling of bulk fertilizers and record handling of containers," the authority said in a statement. The port reloaded 9.36 million tons of petroleum products last year, up 31.1 percent year-on-year. The handling of bulk fertilizers rose by 5.7 percent, to 5.56 million tons, and TEU containers by 16.1 percent, to 373,300 units.
Major shopping centers in Estonia are set to offer discount sales in January of a scale not seen here before, the daily Postimees reported. "The discounts indeed will be of unforeseen scale," Ants Vasar, manager of the Viru shopping center in Tallinn, said. Price cuts are likely to be the biggest in stores selling garments and footwear. There will be many more retailers than earlier selling their goods at 50-60 percent discount. "The only exception is electronics, where I do not believe prices have anywhere left to go," Vasar said. The marketing chief of the Kristiine shopping center, Kaidi Laur, said that also Kristiine officially launched the biggest discount sale in its history on Jan. 5, with some outlets offering their goods as much as 80 percent cheaper.
E.Energy, the Latvian subsidiary of Estonian energy company Eesti Energia, plans to win 10 percent of the Latvian market this year, said E.Energy board chairman Aivar Tihane, doubling its 2008 share of the market. "I hope that the situation in the power market will normalize and not so powerful companies such as Eesti Energia will be able to launch real activities in the market. Competitors will be a positive sign showing improvements in business environment," he said. E.Energy had more than 100 clients at the end of 2008, totaling about 5 percent of Latvia's energy consumption. According to the information of the Latvian business register, E.Energy was established in May 2006. The company's share capital is worth 200,000 lats (284,575euros) and its sole owner is Eesti Energia.
