Global Ports Investments PLC announced its operational results for Q3 2021 and 9m 2021 to 30 September 2021.
Strong market growth continued in Q3 2021 as the overall Russian container market grew by 9.0% to 1.32 million TEU, driven by both the accelerating growth of full containerised import (+9.2% y- o-y) and the continued growth of containerised export (+13.9% y-o-y).
In Q3 2021 market growth continued to be concentrated in the Far Eastern basin (Q3 2021: +13.4% y-o-y) and the Southern basin (Q3 2021: +8.0% y-o-y), while combined throughput of terminals located in Saint Petersburg and the surrounding area demonstrated a slight decline of 1.5% y-o-y compared to Q3 2020.
As a result of the strong growth seen in Q3 2021 the growth of the Russian container market accelerated to 8.0% y-o-y for the 9m of 2021 with throughput at the Far Eastern terminals increasing by 14.2% y-o-y, Southern terminals increasing by 8.8% y-o-y, while combined throughput of terminals located in Saint Petersburg and the surrounding area declined for the first nine months of 2021 by 3.3% y-o-y.
The Group successfully continued to improve its market share position in Q3 2021 in both the rapidly growing Far Eastern basin as well as Saint Petersburg and the surrounding area. Throughput at VSC boosted the Far East’s performance by 22.9% y-o-y in Q3 2021 and 19.6% in 9m 2021 (outperforming the Russian Far East market increase of +13.4% y-o-y and 14.2% y-o-y in Q3 2021 and 9m 2021, respectively). Meanwhile, the throughput of terminals in the Baltic Basin grew by 1.9% y-o-y in Q3 2021 (compared to a regional market decline of 1.5% y-o-y) and declined only by 2.2% y-o-y over 9m 2021 (compared to a regional market decline of 3.3% y-o-y.)
In total, the Group’s Consolidated Marine Container Throughput increased by 8.4% y-o-y in Q3 2021 to 401 thousand TEUs and increased by 4.0% y-o-y in 9m 2021 to 1,190 thousand TEUs.
As previously announced, VSC ceased coal handling in September 2021 enabling the terminal to concentrate on the Group’s core strategic operations of driving container volumes and decreasing its environmental impact. As a result, the Group’s Consolidated Marine Bulk Throughput decreased by 36.1% y-o-y to 0.94 million tonnes in Q3 2021 and by 3% y-o-y to 3.56 million tonnes in 9m 2021.
Heavy Ro-ro handling demonstrated a continued recovery in Q3 2021 with an 11.5% y-o-y growth to 6.0 thousand units. Car handling was also strong in Q3 2021 with a 50.2% growth to 27.8 thousand units.
Albert Likholet, CEO of Global Ports Management, commented:
“The Russian container market remains strong across all segments. In the third quarter, we were encouraged not only by strong import volumes but also by the acceleration of full export growth to almost 14%. Our large well-equipped terminals with strong railway connections in the North West are well prepared for such containerised export growth acceleration.
Our immediate operational focus is on VSC, which this September operated under an environment of exceptionally high and rapidly changing demand dynamics whilst undergoing the transition back to a 100% container dedicated facility with advanced terminal operating software. We believe that we are firmly on track to offer our clients the same high level of service as we provide in North West that has enabled us to consistently improve our market position over the last several years.”