The consolidated throughput of the stevedoring companies incorporated in Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group made 27.5 mn tons during January-March 2021 declining by 19.3%.
Liquid bulk, which accounts for 79% of the aggregate throughput of the Group, decreased by 22.9% year-on-year down to 21.8 mn tons.
Crude oil dropped 31.4% down to 21.1 mn tons due to the global market situation in the pandemic conditions and reflecting the OPEC+ agreement on cutting production.
The lower volumes were also affected by the adverse weather conditions in Novorossiysk January and February when vessel loading operations had to be suspended.
Oil products traffic during Q1 2021 was down 9.4% to 9.4 mn tons.
The only liquid cargo commodity that grew in January-March was vegetable oils, which were up 8.4% to 171.5 thousand tons.
At the end of April, Importpishscheprom, part of NCSP Group, reported handling a millionth ton of vegetable oil with handling volumes peaking in March with 85 thousand tons loaded. In May, the terminal is to put a new storage tank for 10,000 cubic meters into operation expanding the storage capacity up to 24,000 tons.
Solid bulk increased marginally by 0.5% year-on-year up to 1.6 mn tons. Sugar handling surged 29.6-fold to make 136 thousand tons. All the other commodities in this segment declined with ferrous ore down 2.6% to 970.5 thousand tons, coal down 10.1% to 306.3 thousand tons, and chemicals down 21.9% to 168.7 thousand tons, mainly due to the adverse weather.
General cargo declined by 2.5% year-on-year down to 2.8 mn tons. Ferrous metals and cast iron were down 2.2% to 2.5 mn tons, timber and logs down 21.3% to 24.9 thousand tons, and non-ferrous metals decreased by 2.5% down to 247 thousand tons.
Perishables surged by 99.5% up to 51.9 thousand tons.
Containerized cargo traffic grew both in Novorossiysk and Baltiysk.