This year the active season of grain harvesting and transportation launched in August and it is very intensive – 569,540 tons of grain have been carried domestically in August and September, using SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" (LDz) infrastructure. LDz long-term experience and coordinated cooperation has allowed to transport the largest volume of grain domestically in the past ten years.
Traditionally, grain threshing, harvesting and transportation season starts in July, while this year the most intensive month in grain transportation was August, when domestically 327,540 tons of grain were transported, while in September the volume was lower – 242,000 tons. Compared to August and September of 2019, domestic transportation volume increased by 30.5 percent. In total, in the past two months, 914,300 tons of local and foreign grain cargos were transported, using SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" infrastructure.
In the first nine months of this year – from January until September, domestically 809,540 tons of local grain were transported, which is the highest volume in the past ten years.
SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš" board chairman Māris Kleinbergs: “This year’s grain transportation volume has been record-high and Latvijas Dzelzceļš has been able to achieve it thanks to our ability to work intensively and operationally adapt to different situations and climate conditions. It should be also underscored that the increase of domestically transported grain volume is a proof of coordinated cooperation among SJSC "Latvijas dzelzceļš", ports and the grain sector representatives.”
Bulk of the local grain cargos were transported by rail to port stations in Riga, Liepaja and Ventpils. In total, 498,240 tons of grain were transported to ports in August and September. In the first nine months of this year, 680,810 tons of local grain were transported to ports.
Even though grain transportation will continue in October, intensity will be lower than in August and September.