OREANDA-NEWS. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (NCSP Group or the Group) (LSE: NCSP, Moscow Exchange: NMTP) announced that its consolidated cargo turnover in January-March 2014 amounted to 33.6 million tonnes.

PJSC NCSP CEO Yuri Matvienko commented on the operating results of Q1 2014:

"In the last month of Q1 NCSP performed the best, and cargo traffic in March was up 13.3% or 1.4 million tons versus February.

Some positive trends can be traced through the first three months of the year. Grain and sugar volumes are growing month on months since the beginning of 2014, oil products growth rates are accelerating, and NCSP container terminal is showing consistent month on month growth.

The lag in crude oil volumes in Q1 2014 reduced to 18.8% year on year, and total cargo turnover was down 9.1% year on year versus 10.2% for the first two months of 2014.

Ro-ro cargo (automobiles) handling started last year and is performing well in 2014. A seasonal hike in demand resulted in handling 1000 new automobiles in March versus 470 in February".

Liquid Cargo

Liquid cargo handling totaled 26 944 ths tonnes in January-March 2014, including 19 491 ths tonnes of crude oil; 7 179 ths tonnes of oil products; 168 ths tones and 106 ths tonnes of UAN and seed oils respectively.

Crude oil volumes in March exceeded these of February by 799 ths tonnes, of which Novorossiysk accounted for 602 ths tonnes of extra volumes.

Oil products growth rates accelerated to 5.1% year on year in Q1 versus 3.2% for January-February 2014. In March oil products handling was up 19.7% versus February.

Bulk Cargo

Bulk cargo volumes in January-March 2014 reached 2 406 ths tonnes, of which grain accounted for 1 452 ths tonnes. Due to improved demand for Russian grain on foreign markets, grain handling in March was up 27.2% versus February 2014. Raw sugar volumes continue growing supported by seasonal demand and extra transit volumes.

General Cargo

General cargo handling in Q1 2014 comprised 2 964 ths tonnes. Ferrous metals and pig iron volumes reached 2 528 ths tonnes. Non-ferrous metals remain pressured by poor export demand, while timber decline rate slowed down to 5.5% year on year in Q1 versus that of 14.4% for January-February.

Containers

Group's container traffic in January-March 2014 was up 5.0% year on year and totaled 167 ths TEU. NCSP container terminal recoded 27.5% growth in March versus February.