IAA PortNews and the Institute for Natural Monopolies Research (IPEM) present jointly developed infographics and analytics on operation of Russian seaports in Q4 and 12M, 2021
In 2021, cargo handling in seaports rose by 1.7%, year-on-year, to 835.2 million tonnes . In the fourth quarter, throughput totaled 213 million tonnes, up 1.7% versus the fourth quarter of 2020. The growth was driven by a favorable situation in the global market amid the recovery of global economies after the COVID-19 pandemic and measures undertaken to prevent its spread.
The growth was registered in many segments although some types of cargo showed negative dynamics. For example, handling of grain in 2021 fell by 15.8% to 42.4 million tonnes with the fall in the fourth quarter having exceeded 33% (as compared with the same period of 2020). The reduction should be attributed to a lower harvest due to unfavorable weather conditions and to introduction of export duties aimed to ensure food security of the country which resulted in redistribution of shipments between export and import markets.
Positive dynamics was seen in exports of oil cargo. In 2020, due to tough lockdowns and OPEC+ agreements, the demand for crude oil and its output plunged and Russia reduced exports of crude oil and oil products by 41% and 32% accordingly (in monetary terms). In 2021, we saw an equally strong recovery ensured by the put-up demand. In its turn, that entailed the growth of oil cargo transportation via seaports: handling of crude oil rose by 1.3%, oil products – by 2.7%.