"The decline in freight volumes in January is attributable first and foremost to a bigger reduction in liquid cargoes compared with January of last year. In January 2016, the volume of liquid cargoes was relatively large compared with other months. The decline in liquid cargoes took place mainly as a result of a reduction in the rail shipment of cargo," Port of Tallinn CEO, Valdo Kalm, told BNS.

"Compared with the months of the final quarter of last year, cargo volumes remained relatively flat," he added.

An increase took place in container cargo, with the number of containers growing by 23.7 percent to 18,898 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEU), and the freight transported in containers amounting to 165,300 tons, marking an increase of 17.2 percent.

Liquid cargo meanwhile fell by 60.7 percent to 577,200 tons, and bulk cargo volumes came down by 12.8 percent to 207,900 tons.

An increase was registered also in ro-ro (roll-on roll-off, i.e. ferry) cargo, which grew by 13 percent to 360,000 tons.

Freight ships called at ports of AS Tallinna Sadam 142 times in January this year, compared to 151 times in January 2016.