Cargo volumes increase at Sea Port of St Petersburg

Storage facility upgrades and road improvements helped Sea Port of Saint Petersburg (SP SPb) handle 6.9 million tonnes of cargo in 2017, up four per cent year on year.

The Russian port and terminal operator said volumes of ferrous metal jumped 20 per cent to 3.6 million tonnes, with steel exporter Evraz NTMK contributing to the positive results.

Two custom-made warehouses also lifted the volume of biofuels (wood pellets) by 35 per cent to 294,000 tonnes, while container handling increased 60 per cent to 33,644 TEU.

But transshipment of non-ferrous metal (nine per cent drop to 1.4 million tonnes) and metal scrap (eight per cent decrease to 600,000 tonnes) decreased. Total transshipment of dry bulk cargo via company berths fell eight per cent year on year to 226,000 tonnes.

Mineral fertilisers (more than 270,000 tonnes) remained at the same level.

Overall, total exports increased six per cent to 6.5 million tonnes (94 per cent of SP SPb’s throughput) and imports fell 12 per cent to 400,000 tonnes.

The infrastructure improvements at the port included the modernisation and construction of general cargo storage facilities, an overhaul of access roads and equipment upgrades.