Cargo transportation by sea (Russian market)

Main article: Freight transportation (Russian market)

Ports in Russia

Main article: Ports in Russia

2024

Rating of the largest Russian ports by container turnover

On January 28, 2025, Mortsentr-TEK presented a rating of the largest Russian ports by container turnover for 2024, where the port of Vladivostok took the leading position with a volume of 1.645 million TEU, increasing the figure by 8.3%. Read more here.

2.3% reduction in seaport cargo turnover to 886.3 million tons

In 2024, the cargo turnover of seaports Russia decreased by 2.3% compared to 2023 and amounted to 886.3 million tons. The main drop was recorded in the segment of coal and petroleum products. These data were published Association of Commercial Seaports in January 2025.

According to the Association, the volume of transshipment of dry cargo goods decreased by 1.9% to 441.1 million tons. The largest reduction was recorded for coal, the shipment of which fell by 9.8% and amounted to 188.1 million tons. Negative dynamics was also noted in the segment of ferrous metals - 19 million tons (-10.8%) and cargo on ferries - 8 million tons (-0.5%). At the same time, an increase in grain transshipment (+ 6% to 74.8 million tons), mineral fertilizers (+ 15.7% to 42.5 million tons) and ore (+ 26.3% to 12.3 million tons) was recorded. Container cargo transshipment increased by 10.8% to 55.5 million tons.

𝓲

Фото: Freepik

The volume of transshipment of bulk cargo in 2024 decreased by 2.6%, amounting to 445.2 million tons. In particular, transshipment of crude oil decreased by 1.7% to 267.5 million tons, and petroleum products - by 7.1%, to 131.1 million tons. The segment of liquefied natural gas recorded an increase of 5.9% to 36.3 million tons, and transshipment of food cargo increased by 14% to 6.4 million tons.

Export shipments through the seaports of Russia decreased by 1.9% to 699.7 million tons, and transit cargo - by 0.5% to 64.9 million tons. At the same time, import supplies increased by 11%, reaching 42.9 million tons. Cabotage transportation decreased by 12.1% to 78.7 million tons.

Among the sea basins, a decrease in cargo turnover was shown by the Arctic region - by 5.2% to 92.9 million tons. In particular, the shipment of dry cargo here decreased by 15.8% to 26.1 million tons.

Baltic ports showed a slight increase in cargo turnover - by 0.6% to 273 million tons, including transshipment of dry goods increased by 6.7%, reaching 123.8 million tons. In St. Petersburg, the growth was 6.9% (52 million tons).

The ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin reduced cargo turnover by 5.4% to 275.7 million tons. Novorossiysk recorded an increase of 2.1% to 164.8 million tons, but Taman lost 30.2%, falling to 28.3 million tons, and Tuapse - 13.4% (21.4 million tons).

The Far Eastern basin showed a drop of 2.3%, to 236.5 million tons. The largest reduction was recorded in the port of Vanino - by 16.2% to 29.3 million tons.

In the Caspian region, an increase of 4.9% to 8.1 million tons was recorded, while dry cargo increased by 10.2% to 5.5 million tons, and bulk cargo decreased by 5.9% to 2.6 million tons^[1]

2023

Increase in freight turnover by 5% to 883.8 million tons

According to the results of 2023, the cargo turnover of Russian seaports increased by 5% compared to a year ago and reached 883.8 million tons. Such data in Rosmorrechflot led January 16, 2024.

According to TASS, citing materials from the department, the volume of dry cargo transshipment in 2023 increased by 10.4% and amounted to 446.9 million tons. The highest growth rates in the subgroup were shown by grain, chemical and mineral fertilizers, scrap metal, cargo on ferries, in containers and rolled (ro-ro) cargo. The indicator of transshipment of bulk goods practically did not change, amounting to 436.9 million tons. The highest increase in this subgroup was shown by bulk chemical and food cargoes.

According to the results of 2023, the cargo turnover of Russian seaports increased by 5% compared to a year ago and reached 883.8 million tons

The Azov-Black Sea basin remains the leader in terms of indicators. Cargo turnover of its seaports increased by 10.4%, to 291.4 million tons. The volume of dry cargo transshipment increased by 16.1%, to 140.8 million tons, bulk cargo - by 5.6%, to 150.6 million tons.

The cargo turnover of the seaports of the Arctic basin decreased by 0.7%, to 97.9 million tons. The volume of dry cargo transshipment there increased by 5.2%, to 31.0 million tons, bulk cargo - decreased by 3.2%, to 66.9 million tons.

The cargo turnover of the Baltic basin seaports increased by 1.3%, to 248.6 million tons. The volume of dry cargo transshipment increased by 16.6%, to 113.1 million tons, bulk cargo - decreased by 8.8%, to 135.5 million tons.

The cargo turnover of the Caspian basin seaports increased by 29.7%, to 7.8 million tons. Transshipment of dry cargo accounted for 5 million tons (an increase of 1.6 times), bulk cargo - 2.8 million tons (a decrease of 2.3%).

The cargo turnover of the seaports of the Far Eastern basin increased by 4.5%, to 238.1 million tons. The volume of dry cargo transshipment increased by 1.9%, to 157 million tons, bulk cargo - by 9.8%, to 81.1 million tons.^[2]

Tariffs for the delivery of goods from South Africa to the Russian Federation are 5-6 times higher than the norm due to the blockade of the country by large sea carriers

The global drop in tariffs for container transportation did not affect. Russia For delivery from the countries of Southeast Asia to Europe and America by March 2023, rates decreased compared to January-March 2022 to 80%. For example, a cargo from Shanghai Hamburg to can be shipped at a price of 1,500 per dollars 40-foot container. But Russia has different realities.

The departure of the five largest sea lines after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine led to a limited supply on the transportation market from the SEA countries to the Russian Federation. In March 2023, units of small maritime companies with low-tonnage vessels operate, which hardly close the increased needs for delivery from the ports of China and other Asian countries to the Far East. Tariffs at this time are in the region of 6-8 thousand dollars per container, which is on average 5 times higher than the dock level. Demand remains consistently high, and with limited supply, there is no trend towards their decline yet.

2013: Increase in the number of Russian-controlled vessels to 1,441

At the beginning of 2013, the total number of vessels controlled by Russia increased to 1,441 vessels with a total tonnage of more than 20 million tons. Of these, 568 ships were included in the Russian International Register, which is 60% higher than at the beginning of 2012. In particular, by the end of 2012, the marine fleet was replenished with 41 new transport vessels with a total deadweight of more than 1 million tons, in 2013 another 22 units of the fleet are expected to be commissioned.

At the same time, it is worth noting that the cargo turnover of Russian seaports over the past years has shown steady growth, so if at the end of 2011 the volume of cargo transshipment in seaports increased by 1.8%, at the end of 2012 - by almost 6%, amounting to 567.1 million tons. According to the results of 9 months of 2013, the indicator showed an increase of another 3.8% compared to the same period in 2012 and amounted to 437.7 million tons. According to Rosmorrechflot, the growth of cargo transshipment is primarily ensured by the development of the port infrastructure: according to the results of 2012, the capacity increase of Russian seaports amounted to 9% or 72% of million tons. As a result, as of the beginning of 2013, there are 63 seaports in Russia with a total capacity of 863 million tons per year.

Note that the increase in transshipment indicators is characteristic of both dry cargo, the share of which in the total volume is more than 40%, and bulk cargo, the share of which is about 55-60%. At the same time, the main direction is export, which accounts for almost 80% of cargo turnover. Among the basins, the leading positions are occupied by the Baltic, Azov-Black Sea and Far Eastern. The largest port centers are Novorossiysk, St. Petersburg, Tuapse and Vostochny.

According to the Government's plans, by 2016-2018. the total volume of transshipment by seaports will be about 740 million tons, and by 2020 - 879 million tons.

2012: Transportation volume by sea amounted to 19.24 million

According to the results of 2012, the volume of transportation by sea amounted to 19.24 million tons, and this is only 57.3% of the 2011 level. Note that in this case we are talking about the transportation of goods by ships under the Russian flag. The reason for such a sharp decrease in the indicator was primarily a change in the statistical accounting methodology - since last year, transportation by mixed navigation vessels "river-sea" refers to transportation on inland waterways. However, along with this, a number of other factors that influenced the market can be distinguished, in particular, the unfavorable situation in the global freight market as a whole, the growth of transportation by ships under the "flag of convenience," as well as a decrease in the number of contracts for the transportation of goods by ships under the Russian flag (data from DISCOVERY Research Group).

Notes