Regular ferry service St. Petersburg - Helsinki was resumed April, 21 2010. In the first trip on the ferry Princess Mary’ there were representatives of mass media, tourism companies, other operator guests of ferry line ST.Peter line, the general agent of the line - the company InFlot Worldwide and commercial passengers.

Last year grain turnover showed impressive growth (in accordance with the data of Aconitum in 2.3 times ) in Russian ports, which was mainly predefined by reduced transport tariffs, which stimulated the trans-shipment of grain in the domestic offshore terminals. The first quarter of 2010, although not as fast, but generally carried on the growth trend.

Container throughput in the largest ports around the world showed a growth slowdown in March 2010. Nevertheless, experts say, the restoration of the pre-crisis volume of transshipment of containers can be expected in the autumn this year. Ports of Russia, on the contrary showed intensive growth in containers handled in March.

Cargo turnover at Russian seaports in the 1st quarter of 2010 (Q1, 2010) gained 11% to 122.98 million tons. The volume of dry cargo amounted to 46.94 million tons (15.3%), liquid cargoes to 76 million tons (+8.5%). The ports of North-Western Basin showed a slight 2.9% rise in handled volumes. The southern ports posted a 3.8% growth, while the Far East ports reported a 51% surge. Three major factors contributed to the increased freight volumes, climatic conditions, railroad output and crude deliveries via the TransNeft facility.

Every year piracy takes more and more threatening forms. It looks strange, but in the XXI century with its technology and naval power an effective fight against piracy has not yet been established. And the obstacle here is not the lack of weapons or technologies of detection of pirate ships, but rather the ideological motivation of a number of powers, not willing to take strict measures.

Russian Shipbuilding industry overcomes transition period. There are a number of issues that must be resolved in the coming years – supply of domestic shipyards with an equal job conditions with foreign competitors by providing the relevant customs and tax preferences, production and management processes of IT-technologies application, equipment modernization and preservation of jobs. In these circumstances, shipbuilders want to be engaged in elaboration of necessary state measures and establish effective exchange of information between business and government.

Despite the growth of cargo transportation by sea, the index of freight costs Baltic Dry (BDI) has not escaped the so-called crisis "trap”. Currently it has no stable signs of growth, remaining in sideways. Analysts fear that this may signal the impending correction in demand for raw materials - coal, metal, iron ore and grain.

Gazprom has consolidated its production assets for the implementation of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) in Russia through its subsidiary Gazenergoset. According to expectations this will contribute to the development of production of this type of gas in Russia. At the time of struggle for more efficient use of associated gas, about which the first person in the country repeatedly made remarks, as well as the appearance in the world of technology, enabling greater use of LPG in the economy and everyday life, experts predict a rise of investment and the construction of the marine transshipment facilities in the Russian ports.

VI International Transport Forum "YugTrans-2010” was held on March 18-19, in the village of Kabardinka near Novorossiysk, at "Nadezhda.SPA & Sea Paradise" Hotel. The event has long been a key event in the transport sector of the southern region, and this time was attended by over 150 delegates from Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Lithuania and Kazakhstan. There have been 33 reports delivered by the forum participants in these two days over the most urgent issues in the field of transport business.

The market for container shipping began to recover this year. At least, the statistics of container capacity of the world's largest ports for the first two months looks promising. At the same time, Baltic ports started to claim actively to become a container hub station.