Commodities shipments through Vostochny Port’s terminal of Primorsky Territory in January 2010 was at 1.030.600 tons, or a 13 percent drop from the same period last year, the Port Authority statement said.

In January this year, 117.000 tons of various commodities have been shipped via Universal Handling Terminal facilities, 33% below the same period in 2009, the port’s press service said.
 
Of overall volumes 913.600 tons were handled by Specialized Coal Terminal, a 9% decline from January 2009.

The authorities blamed rough weather for the traffic volume reduction. “Severe cold this early year in Siberia and the Far East affected the rhythm of work,” Sergei Kushnaryov, managing director of Vostocny Port was quoted as saying. He noted the coal was delivered to the terminal frozen that, in turn, troubled the terminal and had led to a backlog at the port of rail cars and ships waiting off-load operations.

Vostochny Port is the largest stevedoring company in the Russian Far East, specializing in transshipment of coal via conveyor equipment. The Vostochny Port’s structure comprises a Specialized Coal and a Universal Handling Terminals, engaged in shipments of general and bulk cargoes (coal, clinker, coke, iron ore, timber, etc.). The facilities allow handling metals, pulp, aluminum, forestry, chemical and long-sized and heavy-loads. Throughput of the port in 2009 was reported at 14.585.800 tons, a year-over-year 3 percent decline.