NCSP Group throughput grows 3.5 percent to 121.3 mln tons
Freight traffic passing through the terminals of NCSP Group in January-September 2012 rose 3.5% from a year earlier, to 121.3 million tons, the Group press release said.
Shipments of liquid bulk increased by 2.4% to 2.4 million tons. The volume of crude oil in January-September 2012 climbed 1.3% to 85.4 million tons.
Oil products volume rose 7.2% year-on-year to 13.9 million tons driven primarily by increased shipments of diesel fuel in Primorsk Trade Port (+ 603,000 tons).
Grain exports soared 110.5% to 6.4 million tons, reflecting a seasonal recovery of the grain market in September (grain shipments in September 2012 rose to 1.051 thousand tons versus 744,000 tons in August of this year).
Shipments of ferrous metals and iron in the reporting period leaped by 21.1% to 6.5 million tons. Handling of cement surged by more than twofold to 216,000 tons. Coal exports totaled 63,000 tons, since August, when the Group commenced handling the commodity at its terminals.
NCSP Group CEO Rado Antolovic comments: “Our cargo turnover performance for 9M 2012 remained higher year-on-year, with strong momentum from grain handling in September. The flexibility of our cargo base and universal nature of our port assets allowed the Group to offset the impact of volatile commodities markets and summer restrictions on railway deliveries to Novorossiysk Port, thus securing year-on-year growth. For example, strong growth in ferrous metals, cement and other cargos compensated for lower volumes of iron ore and mineral fertilizers. To further diversify the Group’s cargo base this August we started handling coal, which has been the major driver of turnover growth at Russian ports this year, increasing 10.3% y-o-y in 9M 2012. In order to capitalize on the fast growing container segment, the Group continues to implement its planned investments in expanding container terminal capacities in Novorossiysk and Baltiysk, which are both currently operating at full capacity.”
About NCSP Group
Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (NCSP Group) is the largest Russian company and ranks third operator in Europe in terms of cargo throughput. The NCSP Group incorporates the following stevedore companies: PJSC Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, LLC Primorsk Trade Port (since 2011), PJSC Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, OJSC Novorossiysk Ship Repair Yard, OJSC NCSP Fleet, OJSC NLE, OJSC IPP, CJSC Baltic Stevedore Company, CJSC SFP and LLC NFT (joint venture). Novoport Holding Ltd, which is beneficially owned by Transneft and Ziyavudin Magomedov (Summa Group), holds a 50.1% stake in PJSC NCSP. Consolidated revenue according to IFRS for the nine months of 2011 totaled $1.5 bn, EBITDA - $550 million. NCSP shares are traded on Russia's MICEX exchange (NMTP) and on the London Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs (NCSP). In 2011, cargo traffic at NCSP Group totaled 157 million tons.
