OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2011. Cargo traffic at Russian ports in January-August 2011 rose slightly, 0.4% over the last year’s figure, to 352.7 million tons, the Russian Association of Sea Commercial Ports said.

Handling of dry bulk increased year-on-year by 6.4 percent to 150.4 million tons, including coal - 52.9 million tons (+17.2%), containerized cargo - 26.3 million tons (+24.1%), ore - 5.6 million tons (up 1.6 times ), unitized cargo - 4 million tons (an increase of 1.7 times), refrigerated cargoes - 3 1 million tons (+24.2%), non-ferrous metals - 2.7 million tons (+2.7%), scrap metal - 2.3 million tons (+38.8%), sugar - 2.1 million tons (+18.8%). The volume of ferrous metals declined by 13.7% to 16.6 million tons, of mineral fertilizer - by 3.6% to 8.1 million tons, of grain - by 47.8% to 7.3 million tons, of ferries cargo - 7.4% to 4.6 million tons, of timber cargo - by 12.7% to 4.1 million tons. Shipments of liquid bulk fell 3.6 percent to 202.3 million tons, including crude oil - 130.4 million tons (-7.2%), petroleum products - 70.9 million tons (+3.7%).

In the reporting period Russian ports handled 267.9 million tons of outbound cargo, up 1.7% compared with the same period last year, 30.9 million tons of inbound goods (+28.8%), and 33.4 million tons of transit cargo (+10%). Coastal traffic volume was down 15.8 percent to 20.5 million tons.

Cargo throughput of the Arctic Basin terminals fell 16.3 percent year-on-year, to 29 million tons. The eight-month volume of dry bulk cargo rose 13.6 percent from a year earlier, to 14.9 million tons, while liquid bulk shipments slumped 34.5 percent to 14.1 million tons: the main decrease in the segment was reported by the ports of Murmansk (-41.6%) and Varandey (-42.5%).

The ports of the Baltic Sea posted a 5.2 percent gain for the period, to 122.7 million tons. Dry bulk cargo throughput rose 15.2 percent to 47.1 million tons, while handling of liquid bulk fell 0.1 percent to 75.6 million tons. Stevedore companies of Big Port St. Petersburg, handled 39.5 million tons of cargo, up 6.5% from last year’s numbers. Operators at the port of Ust-Luga handled 13.6 million tons, or 1.8 times more than a year before. Cargo traffic at the port of Primorsk fell 3.2%, at Vysotsk port - by 6.3% and at Kaliningrad port – by 1.3%.

Freight volume handled at the ports of the Black Sea basin totaled for the period 110.8 million tons (-4.4%). Eight-month volume of dry cargo was down 8.1% from last year, to 37.6 million tons, handling of liquid bulk fell 2.4% to 73.1 million tons.

In January-August, throughput of the port of Novorossiysk dropped 5.7 percent year-on-year, to 76.4 million tons, cargo traffic at port of Kavkaz slumped by 25.3 percent to 5.1 million tons, at the port of Azov – by 22.2% to 2.6 million tons and at the port of Yeisk – by 12.1% to 2.3 million tons. Stevedores operating at other southern ports demonstrated strong results: throughput of Rostov port rose 6 percent to 5.7 million tons, port of Taganrog - by 16.5% to 2.2 million tons, and Temryuk port - by 31.1% to 1.7 million tons. The port of Tuapse posted a slight gain in traffic volume (+0.1%).

Freight flows passing through the Caspian basin ports totaled 6.6 million tons (-4.9%), including dry cargo - 3.5 million tons (-13, 9%), liquid bulk cargo - 3.1 million tons (+7.4%). Transshipments at the port of Makhachkala rose 7.9% to 3.5 million tons, the port of Astrakhan handled 2.7 million tons of cargo, a 11.7 percent decline.

Exports/imports handled at seaports in the Pacific region of the country rose to 83.7 million tons (+8 3%), including 47.4 million tons (+11.7%) of dry cargo and 36.3 million tons (+4.3%) of liquid bulk. Vostochny port cargo throughput (including Kozmino terminal) – rose 11.2 percent to 26.1 million tons, of Vanino port - by 12.6% to 13 million tons, of the port of De Castri - by 28.3% to 5.6 million tons. Port of Vladivostok handled 7.9 million tons of cargo, up 5.8% from a year earlier. Port of Posiet posted a 21.4 percent growth to 3.5 million tons. Eight-month volume of handled cargo at the port of Prigorodnoye was on a par with last year’s numbers. The volume of cargo handling at the port of Nakhodka shrank by 7.1% to 9.98 million tons.

Association of Commercial Sea Ports (ASOP) was founded in 1987. Currently, ASOP unites more than 50 Russian organizations and enterprises of maritime transport. The Association includes commercial sea ports, forwarding and agency companies, research institutes and maritime transport schools. The outcome data of the Russian port complex is based on statistical reports, covering all stevedoring companies operating in the country.