Joint product of IAA PortNews and the Institute for Natural Monopolies Research (IPEM)
In the second quarter of 2023, cargo handling in Russian ports rose by 10.5%, year-on-year, to 232.0 million tonnes. That is the highest quarter result over the recent years. Thus, the throughput growth is explained not only by the reorientation of trade links but also by the growth of exports (first of all commodities). Among the general factors of export growth are relatively high global prices for most commodities and weakening of the ruble.
However, there was a considerable decrease in the export of ore (-31.5% vs the second quarter of 2022) and ferrous metal (-7.2%). Low prices in the world markets, European sanctions (imposed on ferrous metal) and decreased purchases by European consumers despite the absence of official sanctions on ores were the main factors causing the decline.
Throughput of energy cargoes saw a relatively low change: oil products experienced a decline (-5.9%), other types of cargo - some growth (liquefied gases +1.1%, coal and coke +4.2%, oil +5.9% ). Thus, the decline in exports to Europe was offset by a reorientation of exports to other countries.
A considerable increase was registered in handling of cargo in containers (+32.5%), which was driven by the stabilization of the situation with the export of containers from the Far East and the development of Russian container services. An even higher growth was demonstrated in the segment of fertilizers (+55.1%) due to the organization of transshipment at the terminals of Saint-Petersburg (including Belarusian fertilizers). Finally, the maximum growth was seen in grain transshipment (+127.5%) under the impact of the export quotas expansion.
The growth was registered in all basins. The lowest one was shown by the Arctic Basin and the Baltic Basin (+2.0% and +7.0% respectively) since those basins were focused on Europe most of all. In the Far East Basin (+7.5%), the growth is hindered by the limited capacity of railway infrastructure. The maximum growth was seen in the Azov-Black Sea Basin (+21.2%) and in the Caspian Basin (+38.0%) where the abovementioned negative factors are not that strong.
In the second quarter of 2023, transshipment of containers (TEU) increased by 31.2%. That quarter saw, along with the constant growth in transshipment in the Far East and Caspian basins (+34.7% and +165.7% respectively), the growth of container handling in the Baltic Basin for the first time over the recent year and a half (+25.5%). In the Azov-Black Sea Basin, container handling also increased significantly (+38.9%), while in the Arctic Basin it decreased (-16.1%).
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