OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2012. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (“NCSP Group” or the “Group”) (LSE: NCSP, Moscow Exchange: NMTP) announces its consolidated operating results for January – November, 2012. The Group’s total cargo turnover increased 2.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) and amounted to 146.8 million tonnes. Handling of oil products, ferrous metals and grain remained among the Group’s fastest-growing cargoes, with y-o-y increases of 15.6%, 23.8% and 58.6%, respectively.

NCSP Group CEO Rado Antolovic said: “We achieved y-o-y turnover growth amidst a volatile market and unfavourable weather conditions – the Novorossiysk port saw a total of 130 hours of severe weather in the beginning and end of November. In some cargoes, specifically oil products, we have well outgrown the market with a 15.6% y-o-y increase versus the market’s y-o-y growth of 7.5%. NCSP started handling of coal, the major driver of throughput growth in Russian ports, this August only. Although still a comparatively small addition to the Group’s total throughput, coal volumes demonstrate strong month-on-month development with November turnover outperforming that of October more than threefold. The overall stability of our cargo handling volumes is largely due to the flexibility of NCSP Group’s port facilities. Our diverse cargo base allows us to adapt quickly to changes in the market and compensate for declines in certain cargoes by increasing handling of others that are experiencing higher demand.”

Liquid cargo

The transhipment of liquid cargo in the reporting period increased by 2.0 million tonnes (or 1.7%) year-on-year to a total of 121.1 million tonnes. Crude oil handling in January-November, 2012 totalled 102.9 million tonnes, a slight decline of 0.7% compared to the first 11 months of 2011. Oil products turnover saw strong growth, increasing 15.6% year-on-year to 17.3 million tonnes.

Bulk cargo

NCSP Group handled 11.1 million tonnes of bulk cargo in January – November, 2012, representing flat year-on-year performance due to a seasonal decline in grain and lower iron ore handling.

Coal handling nearly doubled if compared to the previous reporting period (January – October, 2012) and totaled 168.8 thousand tonnes. The Group started handling coal in August, 2012.

General cargo

In January – November, 2012, general cargo throughput increased by 19.1% year-on-year and reached 9.9 mln tonnes. Handling of ferrous metals increased 23.8% y-o-y to 7.9 million tonnes, accounting for the bulk of this growth. Timber volumes topped 677.0 thousand tonnes, a 25.9% year-on-year increase.

Containers

NCSP Group container throughput in January-November, 2012 increased to 567.5 thousand TEU, up 5.2% year-on-year. The Baltiysk Container Terminal was the major contributor to this growth with volumes up 13.8% y-o-y. NCSP Group’s container capacities are currently operating at a utilisation rate of 100%. The Group continues to seek to expand its capacity in this fast-growing segment.