The volume of cargo transshipment in Russian seaports in January-March 2024 amounted to 214.3 million tons, which is 3.3% less than the volume in the same period of 2023.
The Association of Russian Seaports announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports, citing the website PortNews.
According to the statement, in the first three months of 2024, Russian ports handled 167.9 million tons of export cargo (+3.4%), 9.8 million tons of import cargo (+3.2%), 17.5 million tons of transit cargo (+1.6%), and 19.1 million tons of cabotage cargo (-6.9%).
During this period, the volume of grain cargo handled in Russian ports increased the most by 13.1% to 18 million tons, followed by containerized cargo by 11.9% to 13.6 million tons, fertilizers by 37.9% to 10.2 million tons, and liquefied gas by 4.6% to 9.4 million tons.
The volume of crude oil handled by Russian ports during this period increased by 0.7% to 69 million tons, but the volume of oil products they handled decreased by 16.5% to 29.7 million tons (apparently because of successful Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries).
The volume of coal handling decreased by 15.2% to 43.4 million tons, ferrous metals by 5.3% to 4.9 million tons, and ores by 4.4% to 2.2 million tons.
Russian ports on the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea handled 70.6 million tons of cargo in the first quarter of this year, which is 4.2% less than they handled in the first quarter of 2023. This included 32.4 million tons of dry cargo (a 6.8% reduction) and 38.2 million tons of liquid bulk cargo (-1.9%).
The largest Russian port in the region, Novorossiysk, increased cargo handling by 6% to 43 million tons. This is the main seaport for the export of crude oil in southern Russia.
The cargo transshipment figures for the other ports in the Azov-Black Sea basin are Taman 8.1 million tons (-28.7%), Tuapse 4.9 million tons (-19.5%), Kavkaz 4.3 million tons (-7.8%), and Rostov-on-Don 3.6 million tons (-6.4%).
As previously reported, Russian seaports handled 139.6 million tons of cargo in January-February 2024, 0.5% less than in January-February 2023. Russian ports on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov increased the volume of transshipment by 3.5% to 46.2 million tons in this period.
Despite the sanctions and restrictions imposed by Western countries, Russian seaports increased their cargo transshipment volumes by 5% to 883.8 million tons in 2023, compared with 2022.
Crude oil and petroleum products account for a significant share of Russia's maritime exports, which help to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. For example, From the introduction of the EU mechanism for capping the price of seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products in December 2022 until the end of February 2024, about 11.4 million tons (or 82.9 million barrels) of Russian crude oil were delivered from Russian Black Sea ports to ports and transshipment points in the EU. An additional 10.6 million tons were shipped from the Black Sea to the EU in the form of petroleum products.
In connection with this, the EU has announced that its 14th package of sanctions against Russia is likely to include new restrictions on Russia in the maritime sector.
