Activity in Russia's ports approaches levels seen before 24 February 2022

Container throughput of Saint-Petersburg is recovering despite sanctions

Activity in Russia's three largest container ports, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, and Novorossiysk, is approaching the levels seen before 24 February 2022, according to Kiel Institute of World Economy (Germany).

In particular, arrivals at Russia's most important container port, St. Petersburg, had slumped by 90 percent in the meantime and then jumped in recent weeks.

"Where the goods are coming from is not clear from the container ship movements, but Russia seems to be rejoining the world trade. This occurs despite sanctions imposed by Western nations and the falling value of the ruble," says Vincent Stamer, Head of Kiel Trade Indicator.

The latest Kiel Trade Indicator data update shows a 0.9 percent increase in global trade in August compared with the previous month of July. The volume of standard containers shipped rises slightly in August to almost 14 million. Yet the congestion off the Panama Canal has virtually no impact on the global transport of goods, with only 0.5 percent of global cargo capacity stuck there.