Cargo through Klaipeda seaport growing

VILNIUS (BNS) - The Lithuanian port of Klaipeda saw a 54 percent increase in cargo turnover over the first four months of 2000 in year-on-year terms.

The port handled 7.214 million tons of cargo in the January-April period this year, 2.54 million tons more than in the same period of 1999, the port authority reported.

Excluding fuel oil and other oil product exports, 4.884 million tons of cargo were reloaded at the port in the four months, a rise of 38 percent versus the respective figure for 1999.

In April, the cargo flow reached 1.890 million tons, a 26 percent increase from April 1999, but a 9.4 percent decline compared with March 2000.

Excluding the Klaipeda oil terminal, which reloaded 670,000 tons of oil products last month, other companies in the port handled 1.22 million tons of cargo, a 31 percent rise over one year.

In total, 2,230 vessels were loaded and unloaded at the port in the January-April period this year, a 25 percent increase from the figure for 1999.