Freight traffic at the seaports of Russia in January through July of this year increased by 3.4% compared with the same period a year ago to 483.42 million tonnes, the Association of Russian Seaports of Russia (ASOP) said.
The seven-month volumes includes 214.22 million tonnes (-4.0%) of dry bulk cargo and 269.21 million tonnes (+ 10.1%) of liquid bulk cargo.
Export coal volume reached 101.9 million tonnes (+ 9.7%), grain - 19.1 million tonnes (-48.3%), containerized cargo – 32.7 million tonnes (+ 6.3%), ferrous metals – 16.3 million tonnes (-8.9%), mineral fertilizers – 10.3 million tonnes (-1.4%), ores – 4.8 million tonnes (+ 18.0%), timber – 2.9 million tonnes (-8.6%).
In the reporting period the volume of liquid bulk handling at Russian ports amounted to 269.2 million tonnes (+ 9.9%). The figure includes crude oil – 162.4 million tonnes (+ 12.1%), oil products – 83.9 million tonnes (-0.9%) ) and LNG – 19.1 million tonnes (+ 60.9%).
Exports handled at the ports totaled 378.2 million tonnes (+ 5.8%), imports – 21.8 million tonnes (+ 3.4%), transit cargo – 38.4 million tonnes (+ 2.3%) and coastal trade cargo – 45,1 million tonnes (-12.5%).
Handling of cargo at the seaports based in the Arctic basin increased by 22.9% to 60.73 million tonnes, including 17.62 million tonnes (+ 5.0%) of dry bulk cargo and 43.12 million tonnes (+ 32.1%) of liquid bulk cargo. The Port of Murmansk throughput increased to 36.3 million tonnes (+ 5.9%), Port of Sabetta volumes – to 16.1 million tonnes (+ 215.6%) and Varandey – to 4.2 million tonnes (+ 7.7%), while volume of the Port of Arkhangelsk fell to 1.5 million tonnes (-7.8%).
Freight throughput at the Baltic Sea seaports amounted to 151.38 million tonnes (+ 6.6%), including the volume of dry cargo – 64.78 million tonnes (+ 3.1%) and liquid bulk – 86.60 million tonnes (+9.4%). Freight moving increased in the following ports of the region: by 10.2% in the Port of Ust-Luga to 63.0 million tonnes, by 1.9% in Greater Port of St. Petersburg to 35.1 million tonnes, by 13.9% in the Port Primorsk to 35.7 million tonnes and by 6.6% in Port Vysotsk to 11.1 million tonnes.
Seven-month freight traffic at the Azov-Black Sea basin ports in the seven-month period reached 43.92 million tonnes (-8.6%): 51.89 million tonnes of dry cargo (-24.8%), 92.02 million tonnes ( + 4.0%) of liquid bulk cargo. Cargo volume of the Port of Novorossiysk decreased to 89.5 million tonnes (-1.2%), of the Port of Tuapse – to 13.4 million tonnes (-12.5%), the Port of Rostov-on-Don – to 8.7 million tonnes (-8, 8%), Port Kavkaz to 10.5 million tonnes (-36.5%). In the same period cargo throughput increased at the following ports: Taman – by 21.3% to 8.7 million tonnes, Temryuk – by 33.9% to 2.7 million tonnes.
Cargo volumes handled at sea ports of the Caspian basin soared 47.0% to 4.16 million tonnes. This figure includes 1.58 million tonnes of dry cargo (-1.7%) and 2.58 million tonnes (+211.0%) of liquid bulk cargo. The Port of Makhachkala handled 2.5 million tonnes of different cargo, or 1.7 times more on Jan-July 2018 and the Port of Astrakhan volume totaled 1.3 million tonnes (+ 12.5%).
The Far Eastern basin ports also demonstrated strong results. In the reporting period the regional seaports handled 123.23 million tonnes (+ 6.3%), including 78.34 million tonnes (+ 7.4%) of dry cargo and 44.89 million tonnes (+4.3%) of liquid bulk cargo. The Port of Vanino moved 18.5 million tonnes of cargo, 6.7% more as compared with the same period 2018, the Port of Nakhodka throughput was 15.3 million tonnes (+ 7.2%), the Port of Vladivostok – 13.0 million tonnes (+ 9.8%), De-Castries – 7.9 million tonnes (+ 15.1%) and Posyet – 4.6 million tonnes (+ 7.6%). At the same time, freight volume handled at the Port Prigorodnoye fell 11.0% to 9.2 million tonnes.