Throughput of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group up 13.6% to 21 mln t in Q1 09
Cargo turnover of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group totaled 21 million tonnes, exceeding by 2.5 million tonnes the turnover of the same period last year, the Group announces.
Igor Vilinov, General Director of NCSP PJSC, commented on the operating results of the 1st quarter, saying: «Competitive advantages of the port based on versatility of the cargo base and technological flexibility of handling facilities, as well as completion of important expansion projects enabled us to attain growth in overall cargo turnover in the 1st quarter as compared with the same period last year. Attraction of additional volumes of oil products, ore and iron-ore concentrate, growth in grain and crude oil turnover allowed us to fully counterbalance an inevitable reduction in turnover of containers, ferrous metals, timber and several other cargoes».
Grain handling volumes in the reported period grew to 2 087 thousand tonnes, exceeding the volumes of the first quarter 2008. Grain handling in March was up by 30% from February and twice as much compared to January, 2009. The share of grain in the total cargo turnover has increased by more than 3 times, reaching 10%.
Handling of crude oil in the reported quarter grew by 1 million tonnes or up 10% year-on-year, with a slight reduction in the growth rates in March. Thanks to the favourable market, handling of petroleum products grew at higher rate of 25% or up 640 thousand tonnes year-on-year. The share of petroleum products in the total cargo turnover grew to 15.3% from 14% in the 1st quarter, 2008.
In the first quarter of 2009 NCSP Group attracted additional volumes of ore and iron-ore concentrate which used to be shipped through Ukrainian ports. In the first quarter the turnover of this cargo reached 750 thousand tonnes, 3.6% of the Group’s total turnover.
Handling of ferrous metals dropped by 268.7 thousand tonnes (12%) in the reported period compared to same period last year. Still, the turnover of ferrous metals kept growing month-on-month in January-February 2009.
At the same time volumes of non-ferrous metals in first quarter 2009 totaled 259 thousand tonnes, which is 12% up from same period last year.
Handling of perishable cargoes and seed oils grew by 30 thousand tonnes combined or over 100% in the reported period from the first quarter of 2008.
Overall container traffic dropped by 24.3 thousand TEU or 28.6% from the same period last year. Nevertheless, there is an upward trend in turnover of all the three terminals of NCSP Group in March as compared to February 2009. Thus, in March container handling at Novoroslesexport terminal grew by 62% (by 4.8 thousand TEU) month-on-month, and traffic at NCSP container terminal grew by 14% (by 1.1 thousand TEU) month-on-month. BSC container terminal resumed operation after an almost two-month pause, handling 2.9 thousand TEU in March, 2009.
While other cargoes including timber, UAN liquid fertilizer, and cement in the first quarter of 2009 showed year-on-year decrease of 462.6 thousand tonnes combined, in March compared to February the volumes of these cargoes grew by 74%.
Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port is the largest Russian port operator in terms of cargo turnover. Group’s consolidated cargo turnover in 2008 totaled 81.6 million tonnes. Consolidated revenue to IFRS for the 9 months of 2008 totaled $487.560 million, EBITDA – $251.093 million, net profit – $106.335 million.
NCSP Group includes the following stevedore companies: PJSC NCSP, PJSC Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, OJSC Novorossiysk Ship Repair Yard, PJSC NCSP Fleet, OJSC Novoroslesexport, OJSC IPP, and Baltic Stevedoring Company Ltd.