OREANDA-NEWS. July 26, 2012. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (“NCSP Group” or the “Group”) (LSE: NCSP, MICEX-RTS: NMTP) announces its consolidated operating results for the first six months of 2012.

NCSP Group’s total cargo turnover in the reporting period amounted to 81.6 million tonnes, which represents a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 4.7 million tonnes versus 1H 2011. This 6.2% increase in cargo turnover beat the industry average growth of 5.4%, thus putting NSCP Group 14.8% ahead of the sector.[1]

Rado Antolovic, CEO of NCSP Group, commented: “The 1H 2012 results demonstrate the effectiveness of the Group’s new management team, which was formed following the arrival of new controlling shareholders – Transneft and Ziyavudin Magomedov (Summa Group).”

“I would point out that due to extremely severe weather conditions in Novorossiysk in early 2012, NCSP Group was forced to halt loading and unloading operations there for approximately 30 days,” Rado Antolovic added.

NCSP Group’s liquid cargo volumes in the first half of the year increased by 1.8 million tonnes, which represents a 2.8% y-o-y increase.  At the same time, Russian ports as a whole saw y-o-y decreases in liquid cargo volumes (-1.2%) and crude oil shipment volumes (-3.3%).

NCSP Group’s total volume of crude oil handling for H1 2012 reached 57.1 million tonnes, which represents 2.5% y-o-y growth. The Group’s increase in crude oil shipments can be attributed to higher volumes at the Novorossiysk Port (up 0.8 million tonnes or 4.0%) and at Primorsk Trade Port Ltd (up 0.6 million tonnes or 1.6%).

The Group saw a 2.3% increase (0.2 million tonnes) in handling of petroleum products (compared to a 1.3% increase for all Russian ports). The total volume of petroleum products turnover for the period reached 9.1 million tonnes, 2.7 million tonnes of which was diesel fuel handled by Primorsk Trade Port Ltd.

In the first half of 2012 the Group’s grain handling volumes totalled 4.2 million tonnes.

The Group’s general cargo handling volumes during the first half of 2012 increased by 19.6% or 1.0 million tonnes.

In the bulk cargo segment substantial gains continue to be made in cement shipments: the total volume for 1H 2012 reached 138 thousand tonnes, up from 27 thousand tonnes in the same period of 2011.

The Group’s y-o-y growth in volumes was primarily due to: ferrous metals, which were up 1.0 million tonnes y-o-y (26.8% higher compared to a 10.1% increase for all Russian ports); timber products, which were up 35,000 tonnes y-o-y (11.4% compared to a 4.4% increase for all Russian ports) and other cargoes, which were up 33,000 tonnes y-o-y. These increases were more than sufficient to offset declines in the handling of nonferrous metals (decrease of 4 thousand tonnes) and perishable cargoes (down 108 thousand tonnes).

“The decline in iron ore and chemical products volumes was a result of the situation on international markets during the first half of 2012,” noted Rado Antolovic.

The Group’s container turnover demonstrated modest growth: 319 thousand TEU compared to 314 thousand TEU during the same period last year, with growth seen at both the Novorossiysk and Baltiysk ports.

“Today NCSP Group’s container terminals in Novorossiysk are operating at full capacity,” noted Rado Antolovic. “In light of this, the Board of Directors of Novoroslesexport (“NLE”, part of NCSP Group) approved a project to increase the capacity of NLE’s container terminals from 270,000 TEU to 700,000 TEU.”

For convenience, information on NCSP Group’s monthly cargo turnover for 2010-2012 is available in an attached Excel file.