Freight volume carried by the fleet of North-Western Shipping Company (NWSC) between January and December 2015 totaled 4.8 million tonnes, a 14% slump year-on-year, the Company said in a press release.
The decline is attributed primarily to low water levels on Russia's inland waterways this year as well as the general economic environment.
However, despite the decline in operating results, income from freight transport of the Company, constituting more than 98% of total revenues, jumped by 25% to 8 billion rubles.
The company's positive financial performance was achieved thanks to switching of its fleet (including ten DCV36 Amethyst and 7 RSD49 Neva-Leader ships) to transportation of high-tariff goods.
During the reporting period, the "Amethyst" series vessels carried more than 1 million tonnes of freight, including nearly 0.5 million tonnes of outbound cargo and 0.45 million tonnes moved between foreign ports. The "Neva-Leader" ships transported 0.49 million tonnes, of which 0.38 million tonnes of export cargo.
About 70% of revenues in 2015 were generated by transporting grain, timber, chemicals / fertilizers, ferrous metals products and scrap, project cargo and equipment.
The volume transported by NWSC vessels in 2015 includes: 1,43 million tonnes of grain, 1 million tonnes of ferrous metals, 0.78 million tonnes of chemicals and mineral fertilizers, 0,32 million tonnes of timber cargo, 0,34 million tonnes of coal, 0,17 million tonnes of non-ferrous metals, 0,14 million tonnes of scrap metal, 0,12 million tonnes of chemicals, and 500,000 tonnes of other cargoes.
Export goods account for 70.2% of the Company's traffic volume, or 3.4 million tonnes (+ 6.7%). Exports include grain, ferrous metals and scrap, coal, chemicals and mineral fertilizers, timber. Lighterage (STS transfer of cargo from NWSC' vessels onto large sea-going ships from Russian Azov sea ports at Kavkaz port offshore locations) was used to transport 800,000 tonnes or 63% of all export grain shipped, or 25% more than a year before.
Foreign-to-foreign trade totaled 1.1 million tonnes (23.6% of the total volume), or a 36% year-on-year decline, mainly due to the decrease in the bulk segment: grain, timber, scrap metal and fertilizers.
The Company's imports traffic volume shrank by twofold to 0.27 million tonnes, attributed to the reduction in ferrous metals, building materials and chemical goods volume imported to Russia from Europe. Inbound cargo accounted 5.7% of total traffic in 2015.
In 2015, inland waterways traffic of the North Western Shipping Company amounted to 22,000 tonnes, including equipment transport by the M/V Amethyst along the Northern Sea Route and the delivery of construction materials from the sea ports of the North-West Russia to Kaliningrad.
North-Western Shipping Company, part of VBTH, a shipping division of UCL Holding, is the largest carrier in the Russian system of waterways, specializing on the export and import shipping of bulk, general and project cargoes, towages of oversized cargo and craft. The company provides a full range of transport services on the inland waterways of Russia and international sea traffic.
The company operates a fleet of 60 sea-going and mixed river-sea class vessels of 3,000 to 7,000 DWT and 3 Ro-Ro «river-sea» barges. Total deadweight of the Company's fleet is 270,000 tonnes with vessel average age of 14 years.