The volume of freight handled by UCL Port, a stevedore unit of UCL Holding in January - December 2016 rose to 34.1 million tonnes, a 3% gain year-on-year, the Group said in a media release.
Container traffic which grew by 41% to 581,700 TEUs (or 7,1 million tonnes) contributed to UCL Port's throughput (including box volumes at Container Terminal Saint-Petersburg, Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg and Taganrog Sea Commercial Port).
Handling of dry cargo across the division's terminals climbed 1% to 26.9 million tonnes, while oil product exports fell by 8% to 7,2 million tonnes.
In the reporting period imports reached 14% or 4,7 million tonnes and exports accounted for 86% (29,2 million tonnes) with coastal traffic volume – less than 1% of total freight throughput of UCL Port.
CTSP ended the year strong handling 557,800 TEUs or 40% more than a year earlier.
There was a slight decline (-0.7%) in the segment of grab bulk and suction cargo to 11,2 million tonnes.
Grain exports grew 3% to 2,2 million tonnes primarily due to grain shipments from Tuapse bulk terminal, 60% of the volume was wheat cargo and 40% – corn.
In 2016 UCL Port handled 1.1 million tonnes of ore materials (+17%) thanks to steady growth of alumina exports through Sea Port of St. Petersburg terminal and to a twofold surge in manganese ore exports via Multipurpose Reloading Complex (URC) at the Port of Ust-Luga.
Coal volume handled by the stevedoring division was up 3% to 7,8 million tonnes due to robust operation at the terminals of Tuapse and Ust-Luga.
Mineral fertilizers shipments declined at Sea Port of St. Petersburg by 74% to 131,000 tonnes due to redistribution of the cargo flows to dedicated terminals of Russia and the Baltic countries.
The volume of general cargo shrank by 5% to 8.6 million tonnes on the back of a twofold slump in scrap handling at Sea Port of St. Petersburg to 630,000 tonnes.
Negative trend in this segment was partly offset by a 5% gain in ferrous metals exports in the ports of UCL Port to 5.3 million tonnes and a 9% growth in non-ferrous metals at the port of St. Petersburg to 1.5 million tonnes.
A 8% decline to 7,2 million tonnes in liquid bulk, oil products segment is attributed to less volume at Tuapse Sea Commercial Port that followed regular overhaul at Tuapse Refinery early in the year and by overall decline in demand at Tuapse and Taganrog.
Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCL Holding) is an international transportation holding of companies specializing in rail and waterway transport, cargo handling at Russian ports, providing logistics service, shipbuilding and cruise operations. The UCL Holding coprises three divisions: UCL Rail, UCL Port and VBTH. UCL Port consolidates Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg, Container Terminal Saint Petersburg, Multipurpose Reloading Complex based in Northwest Russia and Tuapse and Taganrog ports in Russia's Southern region. UCL Rail includes Freigh One, the largest railway operator in Russia. A shipping division VBTH includes North-West Shipping and Volga Shipping, VF Tanker and a number of shipbuilding and cruise assets.