Throughput of Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg down 8% to 7.3 mln t in 2016
In January-December 2016 cargo turnover of JSC “Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg” (SPSP, member of UCL Holding) amounted to 7.3 mln tons of cargoes which is 8% less than for the same period of last year, SPSP says in a press release.
The change in the volume was mainly caused by the decrease of scrap metals and mineral fertilizers handling. More specifically, the decline in purchase shown by importing countries, on the one hand, and price rise on domestic market, on the other, led to the decrease of scrap metals handling volumes in the Sea Port by 55% amounting to 628,000 t. Due to reallocation of cargo traffic in favour of specialized terminals of Russia and Baltic countries, handling of mineral fertilizers in bulk dropped by 74% down to 133,000 t.
Handling of ferrous metals in the company increased by 16% up to 2.9 mln t, non-ferrous metals – by 9% up to 1.5 mln t, which is connected with the increase of export shipments of steel and aluminum by iron and steel works of Russia.
Due to expansion by the company’s clients of their sales markets and acquisition of new producers of wooden pellets, handling of pellets grew by 34% up to 216,000 t. Import deliveries of food cargoes grew by 21% up to 82,000 t. Transshipment of project, heavy and oversized cargo was flat, year-on-year, at 65,000 t.
During the reported period Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg increased handling of ro-ro cargoes mainly owing to import cargoes arriving by ferry lines. The number of handled motor vehicles amounted to 35,000 units which is 9% more than for the same period of last year. Such a positive dynamics was caused by the growth of export volume of Russian cars. Attraction of new cargo traffics from CIS countries resulted in growth of grain volumes by 5% up to 121,000 t.
With a new container service launched by Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg in late 2016, the portfolio of SPSP’s services is now strengthened by handling/processing/storage of containerized cargoes. Before the upgrade, the containers were handled by the Company only as a supplement to project cargoes, heavyweight or oversized cargoes or as small container consignments shipped by general-purpose vessels. The company’s container throughput therefore increased by 19% to 43,000 t, or by 21% to 8.3 TEUs.
All in all, transshipment of general cargo fell by 3% to 6.2 mln t, dry bulk and loose cargo – by 32% до 1.1 mln t. In 2016, exports via Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg totaled 6 mln t, imports – 1.3 mln t (83% and 17% of throughput).
JSC “Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg” (part of UCL Port, stevedoring division of the international transport group UCL Holding) – the largest operator rendering services on handling of all dry cargoes in the Greater Port of Saint-Petersburg. It operates modern multi-purpose terminals for general and bulk cargoes as well as specialized terminals for handling of Ro-Ro cargoes and containers.
