Baltic ports: 11M 2025 — volumes, structure, divergence
Cargo flows across the Baltic ports in 2025 continue to diverge structurally rather than cyclically. Eleven-month results confirm that the post-2022 adjustment phase is effectively complete, with ports now operating in clearly differentiated roles.
Klaipėda sets the regional benchmark
Port of Klaipeda remains the volume and structure benchmark in the Baltic region. Over 11 months of 2025, total cargo throughput reached approximately 36mn t, maintaining double-digit year-on-year growth.
The growth profile is broad-based. Containerised cargo amounted to roughly 12mn t, or around 1.2mn TEU, accounting for about one-third of total throughput. Ro-ro cargo reached approximately 6mn t, meaning containers and ro-ro together generated around 50% of total volumes. LNG throughput stood at ~2.2mn t, petroleum products at ~3.4mn t, construction materials and minerals at ~2.0mn t, and fertilisers at ~1.6mn t. Grain volumes declined slightly to ~3.6mn t, but the reduction had no structural impact on overall port performance.
Klaipėda’s growth is therefore not driven by a single opportunistic stream but by scale, route density and diversified cargo structure embedded in EU logistics chains.
Latvia: one system, shared downside
Latvian ports continue to operate as a single system rather than independent niches. The combined picture over 11 months of 2025 remains negative despite isolated segment growth.
Riga handled approximately 17.3mn t, a 6.8% year-on-year decline, implying an absolute loss of roughly 1.3mn t compared with the same period in 2024. The contraction is concentrated in agricultural cargoes, where volumes fell by around 600,000 t, reflecting the loss of Russian grain flows that had previously acted as the port’s volume anchor. Container traffic remained modest at ~452,000 TEU, down slightly year on year, and remained largely local in nature. Passenger ferries and ro-ro traffic are absent following the withdrawal of services during the pandemic. Growth in petroleum products (+42%) and construction materials (+21%) was insufficient to offset the loss of agricultural throughput.
Ventspils recorded nominal growth of around 8%, supported almost exclusively by petroleum products (+618,000 t, +20%) and coal (+411,000 t, +47%). Iron ore volumes collapsed to negligible levels (–97%), underlining the port’s narrow and volatile cargo base.
Liepāja showed growth only in construction materials, reaching ~772,000 t (+24%), while agricultural cargoes, timber and ro-ro declined. The port remains local in scale and monosegmental in growth.
Tallinn: quarterly reporting, mixed model
Tallinna Sadam should be analysed separately due to its quarterly reporting cycle and fundamentally different operating model.
For 9M 2025, Tallinna Sadam handled 10.2mn t of cargo, up 4.9% year on year. Q3 throughput reached 3.37mn t, up 7.8%. Cargo growth was driven primarily by dry bulk (+14.7% over 9M; +46% in Q3) and liquid bulk (+32.9%), with container volumes increasing modestly to 1.58mn t (~195,000 TEU, +2.4%). Ro-ro volumes declined slightly to 4.81mn t (–4.5%).
The reported increase in grain volumes is not related to Estonian domestic production and reflects transit dry bulk flows rather than a structural agricultural base.
Passenger traffic remains the core stabilising factor. Over 9M 2025, Tallinna Sadam handled 6.41mn passengers, up 1.0%, with the Tallinn–Helsinki route accounting for 5.65mn passengers (+1.6%). Cruise passenger numbers increased by 17.8%, while vessel calls remained broadly stable.
Tallinn therefore combines moderate cargo growth with a high-frequency passenger and ro-ro model. It does not compete with Klaipėda on tonnage and does not rely on agricultural anchor cargoes.
Image: photos/photo_120@16-12-2025_21-34-47.jpg