OREANDA-NEWS. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (NCSP Group or the Group) (LSE: NCSP, Moscow Exchange: NMTP) announces today that its consolidated cargo turnover for the period of January-August 2013 amounted to 94.6 million tonnes, compared to 107.8 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2012.

Liquid cargo

Handling of liquid cargo in the reporting period was 79,195 ths tonnes, compared to 88,927 ths tonnes in January-August 2012. Crude oil handling totalled 61,462 ths tonnes, oil products handling amounted to 17,212 ths tonnes, UAN handling equalled 410 ths tonnes, and seed oils handling amounted to 111 ths tonnes during the first eight months of 2013.

Oil products handling in January-August continued its sustainable growth, with a 40.1% year-on-year increase of 4,923 ths tonnes. The growth came from both the Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal and from the Primorsk Trade Port, which saw year-on-year increases of 2,194 ths tonnes and 2,089 ths tonnes, respectively.

Bulk cargo

NCSP Group handled 4,956 ths tonnes of bulk cargo in 8M 2013 compared to 8,120 ths tonnes a year earlier.

Grain handling during 8M 2013 amounted to 1,600 ths tonnes, with August turnover accounting for 787 ths tonnes, nearly the same amount as the total handled in the preceding seven months.

Iron ore handling reached 1,393 ths tonnes for January-August 2013, a year-on-year increase of 12.8%.

Sugar handling volumes increased 14.3% year-on-year for January-August 2013, supported by the contraction of beet-root sugar production in Russia.

General cargo

General cargo volumes in 8M 2013 amounted to 7,166 ths tonnes. Ferrous metals volumes were nearly unchanged year-on-year at 5,826 ths tonnes. Timber handling decreased by 34.4% year-on-year.

Containers

NCSP Group's total container throughput in January-August 2013 was 415.5 ths TEU, which is 3.4 ths TEU below 2012 volumes for the same period.