"Our forecast is somewhat conservative. We project around 42.5 million tons this year," Arturas Drungilas, the port's marketing director, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"The decline may be largely due to oil product volumes, which fell last year, too," he said.
Annual cargo traffic at the Klaipeda port rose by 2.87 million tons, or 7.2%, last year compared with 2016 to reach a new record high of 43.01 million tons.
Drungilas noted that 2017 was not the first year that oil product loadings decreased.
"Geopolitically, efforts are underway to shift cargo traffic away from Baltic ports," he said.
The official added that, apart from oil products, Klaipeda may this year see growth in other cargoes.
