by Marek Błuś

Last year, we wrote that 2022 might be a completely different animal because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the subsequent bundle of sanctions imposed on the Kremlin regime.

Top view-wise, 2022 didn't bring about any changes, with the total volume of port traffic in the Baltic Sea region advancing by an almost negligible 0.3% year-on-year to 915.52mt.

Such a conclusion, however, wouldn't do the market justice: in turbulent times, the regional harbours kept working hard (though there were stark country-by-country differences, from up 23.1% yoy and 15.2% yoy in Polish and Latvian seaports, respectively, down to -15.4% yoy and -18.5% yoy across Estonian and Lithuanian harbours).

With 337.62mt (+7.8% yoy), liquid bulk was again the top commodity shipped to & from the Baltic, dethroning general cargo with its 315.94mt (-7.6% yoy). Dry bulk remained at a solid level of 261.96mt (+1.5% yoy).

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