A recently launched container cargo line is now connecting four prominent European ports along the route Riga (Latvia) – Hull (Great Britain) – Rotterdam (Netherlands) – Helsinki (Finland). Managed by the Dutch company Samskip, the Samskip Multimodal B.V. container ship line operates two medium-sized container ships, BF Cartagena and Dornbusch, which make weekly stops at the Port of Riga. The berths at SIA “Rīgas Centrālais Termināls” (RCT), a terminal within the JSC “Riga Port” group, accommodate these Samskip vessels. In 2023, RCT witnessed a remarkable 2-fold increase in containerized cargo volume, with containers constituting nearly 50% of the terminal’s cargo portfolio.
The Port of Riga, the exclusive gateway for regular container traffic in Latvia, welcomes vessels from six major container lines: CMA CGM, Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Sea Consortium Pte. Ltd Trading, Unifeeder, and Samskip Multimodal B.V. Notably, the container segment at the Port of Riga achieved a historic milestone last year by transshipping over 5 million tons of containerized cargo (equivalent to 465.4 thousand TEUs), marking a 9.8% increase from the previous year. For the first time in the port’s history, container cargo emerged as the largest cargo group, comprising 27% of the total cargo portfolio.
Image source: https://rop.lv/en/news/new-container-cargo-line-riga-hull-rotterdam-helsinki-has-been-launched