OREANDA-NEWS.  January 16, 2012. The volume of cargo carried by the fleet of Azov-Don Shipping Company (ADSC) in 2011 totaled 6 million tons, up 13% year-over-year, including 4.6 million tons of exports and 1.4 million tons of inland traffic, the shipping company said.

The growth was driven by grain cargo shipments after Russian Government lifted grain exports ban.
In the reporting period Azov-Don Shipping was transporting mainly construction materials, which account for 28% of the total traffic volume and sulfur - 22%, coal - 19%, grain - 16%, metals - 6%, fertilizer - 3%, other goods - 6%.

The major lanes included seaports of Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Israel, and the domestic ports of Rostov, Ust-Donetsk, Astrakhan and Kavkaz.

In 2011, stevedoring units of the Group handled 4.2 million tons , up 7% year-on-year largely construction materials - 34%, coal – 27%, sulfur – 23%, scrap metal – 8%, other cargo – 8%. Cargo traffic at the multipurpose port of Rostov was 1.6 million tons. Stevedores in Ust-Donetsk port transshipped 1.2 million tons of different cargoes. About 1.4 million tons were loaded/offloaded by other ADSCo’s stevedoring companies at the terminals based in the Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory.

In 2012, Azov-Don Shipping Company plans to implement some investment projects, which could help boost cargo handling by 40% and shipping - by 10%.

Azov-Don Shipping is a Transport Holding established in 2003. The Group comprises more than 20 water transport companies, including shipping, stevedoring companies (Multipurpose Port of Rostov, Port of Ust-Donetsk), logistics and development companies.  ADSC owns and operates 73 vessels of mixed river-sea class each of 7,000DWT, 100 river dry bulk carriers with deadweight of up to 3,000 tons. The company provides transportation of grain cargo, coal, fertilizer, building materials, containers and general cargo. The Group’s stevedoring companies handle cargoes at the terminals of Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Region and the Krasnodar Territory. The annual traffic volume exceeds 5 million tons, turnover of stevedoring companies - 4 million tons.