General news

Cargo turnover in Russian seaports begins to grow after a prolonged decrease

The cargo turnover in the seaports of Russia for the first half of 2021 increased by 0.3% compared to the same period of the last year, or to 412.13 million tons. Cargo turnover moved towards growth after a prolonged decrease caused by the effects of restrictions on the fight against coronavirus infection. At the same time, transshipment of bulk cargo decreased by 6.0%, or to 211.35 million tons, mainly due to a decrease in transshipment of oil (by 9.4%) and petroleum products (by 1.9%). The cargo turnover for dry cargo increased by 8.0% compared to the results of the first six months of 2020, or to 200.78 million tons.

From January till June 2021, the seaports of the Azov-Black Sea (11.3%), Far Eastern (9.3%), Baltic (6.4%) and Arctic (0.7%) basins showed an increase in dry cargo turnover. In particular, an increase in the dry cargo turnover was recorded in the seaports of Taman – 2.3 times growth, Vladivostok – 33.9%, Ust-Luga – 12.4%, Vanino – 14.4%, Big Port of Saint Petersburg – 4.3%, Shakhtersk – 25.1%, Azov – 34%, Nakhodka – 7.8%, Murmansk – 3.6%, Novorossiysk – 2.6%, Tuapse – 5.5%, Kaliningrad – 5.2%%, Eysk – 18.6%, Taganrog – 21.7%, Vyborg – 37.0%, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky – 13.2%, Nevelsk –8.3%, Magadan – 8.0%, Temryuk – 1.2% and Okhotsk – 74.3%.

It is worth noting that the largest increase among dry cargoes was shown by transshipment of coal and coke by 17.8% and sugar by 15 times. The turnover of general cargo increased by 6.7% due to an increase in the transshipment of refrigerated cargo (+16.2%, including fish and fish products by 23.8%), ferrous metals (+9.0%) and unitized cargo (+3.9%). The growth of cargo transshipment in containers amounted to 6.7%, and rolling cargo (ro-ro) amounted to 24.2%.

The transshipment of export cargo was amounted to 328.73 million tons (+1.4%), imported cargo – 20.0 million tons (+11.8%), transit cargo – 31.96 million tons (-1.0%), coastal cargo – 31.45 million tons (-13.9%).

According to the results of work from January till June 2021, 7788 passenger vessels were served in seaports (4.6 times growth) and 3587.4 thousand people were served by maritime passenger terminals. The main number of passengers was served at specialized passenger terminals in the seaports of Sevastopol – 3364.0 thousand people, Yalta – 132.1 thousand people, Sochi – 70.8 thousand people.

The company's revenue on harbor dues for the first half of this year decreased by 1% or to 10.303 billion rubles, due to a decrease in the total volume indicators of serviced vessels by 2.5% or to 855.6 million GT, including due to a decrease in foreign shipping vessels by 1.6% or to 715.6 million GT (share - 83.6%) and cabotage vessels by 6.9% or to 140.1 million GT.

The decrease in volume indicators of serviced vessels is mainly due to a decrease in the volume of transshipment of bulk cargo (oil and oil products) in the seaports of Ust-Luga, Primorsk, Novorossiysk; grain in the seaports of Kavkaz (including vessels passing through the Kerch–Yenikale Canal) and Rostov-on-Don; coal and coke in the seaport of Vysotsk; cargo in containers in the seaports of the Big Port of Saint Petersburg and Kholmsk; rolled cargo in the seaports of the Kavkaz and Kerch. The number of vessels entering the seaports of Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, Vostochny and Nakhodka for bunkering has also decreased.

The number of pilotage operations of FSUE "Rosmorport" in the first half of 2021 increased by 2% compared to the same period in 2020 – or up to 82.5 thousand operations.