Freeport of Riga

Since its foundation, Riga was primarily a trading and transshipment point, so its development was directly related to maritime trade. The first harbor for settlement was the so-called Riga lake - the extension of the river Daugava. At the end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th century the main port of the city moves to the Daugava. The basis of commodity turnover at this time are fabrics, metal, salt and fish. In the next century and a half the city passes successively into the hands of the Rzeczpospolita (1582), Sweden (1629) and Russian Empire (1721). In the Russian Empire, the port played an important role, at the beginning of the XX century occupying the third place among the ports of the state in terms of foreign trade and the first - in timber exports. In each of the world wars, the city fell into the German occupation - before that the port equipment was evacuated, and some buildings were destroyed. During the years of Soviet power the port expanded: the container terminal, built in the early 1980s on the island of Kundziņsala, at the time of commissioning was one of the largest in the USSR. With the adoption of Latvia's independence, the modern history of the port begins. == Port turnover ==