Freight traffic at Ukrainian seaports rose 3.3% in Jan-Jul to 76.2 million tonnes
Cargo volume handled at Ukraine's seaports in January-July 2017 totaled 76.2 million tonnes, which is a 3.3% gain on the same period last year, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) said.
Exports totaled 58,1 million tonnes (+3.6% YoY), imports - 10.9 million tonnes (+18.8%).
Growth in exports segment was driven by grain – a 17% gain to 22.3 million tonnes, vegetable oils – a 32% increase to 3.3 million tonnes, construction materials – a 50-percent surge to 2.6 million tonnes. Handling of ore cargo fell 8.2% to 13.3 million tonnes, of metals and metal products – by 9% to 7.9 million tonnes.
Transit cargo volume rose by 3.1% to 6.5 million tonnes thanks primarily to coal shipments: the commodity volume leaped by 112.3% to 2.4 million, while handling of metal rose 2.5% to 200,000 tonnes.
Coastal traffic volume plummeted by 66.1% to 700,000 tonnes. The decrease was caused by shifting ore cargo deliveries to the railway in connection with the partial restoration of the Kamysh-Zorya-Volnovakha rail section.
Handling of liquid bulk cargo rose 7.6% to 6.5 million tonnes, while dry bulk cargo volume increased by 6.6% to 54.9 million tonnes.
Containers traffic totaled 346,500 TEUs, which represents a 4.7% growth year-on-year, including export containers – 152,300 TEUs (+ 2,5%), import containers - 173,200 TEUs (+ 4,8%), transit containers - 19,900 TEUs (+ 26,9%) and short sea trade containers – 1,000 TEUs (-24.2%).
In the reporting period, the country's seaports handled 6,663 vessels, 622 ships, or 8.5% less than a year earlier.
Among leading ports in terms of seven-month volumes: Port of Yuzhny - 25.3 million tonnes (+ 6.4%), Port of Odessa - 13.8 million tonnes (+ 1.1%), Port of Nikolaev - 13.1 million tonnes (+ 5.9%). The largest volume was handled at Port of Olvia – nearly 4 million tonnes (+32%).
