Page 129 - RusRPTSept23

140.9mn metric tonnes, up 7.4% year to date (up 6.5% annually to 93.9mn metric tonnes for dry goods and up 9.2% to 473mn metric tonnes for bulk cargo).
Freight turnover added 40.8% y/y to 4.3mn metric tonnes in seaports of the Caspian Basin in the reporting period.
It has become much more difficult for Russia to export grain by sea.Russian grain exporters are facing difficulties after Ukraine's strikes on the Kerch bridge and Russian warships in the port of Novorossiysk. Russian marine terminals on the Sea of Azov have already stopped receiving grain from suppliers due to storage facilities being near capacity, reports Bloomberg. As a result, queues of trains that cannot unload have formed near the Azov terminals. Market analysts say this problem is growing because almost all port grain storage capacities are occupied. Ships departing from Russian ports on the Sea of Azov usually transship grain onto larger vessels in the Kerch Strait, which then take it across the Black Sea to final buyers. But Russia restricted shipping through the strait for security reasons after the attack on the Kerch Bridge. Last weekend, Kyiv also attacked a Russian oil tanker near the Kerch Strait. This may force some shipowners to be more careful when entering Russian Federation ports on the Black Sea.
Russia's lack of ships and Western grain traders' shrinking appetite for business with Moscow are adding to rising costs of moving Russian wheat, at a time when the war in Ukraine has spilled perilously close to vital Black Sea supply routes. President Vladimir Putin promised to replace Ukrainian grain with Russian shipments to Africa after Moscow in July. Ukraine's response, sea-drone attacks on a Russian oil tanker and a warship at its Novorossiysk naval base, next door to a major grain and oil port, has added to these new dangers for transport in the Black Sea. In a sign of Russia's growing hunt for vessels, its requests for charters doubled to 257 in July compared with the same month last year, according to data from maritime platform Shipfix that collates from hundreds of market participants. The requests for ships were up 40% from June, and are likely to climb further as the export season gathers pace.
The volume of transshipment of dry cargo amounted to 404.7mn tonnes (-2.0%) for 12 months of 2022, including: coal - 206.5mn tonnes (+1.8%), cargo in containers - 45.3mn tonnes (-26.0%%), grain - 45.1mn tonnes (+6.4%), ferrous metals - 24.5mn tonnes (-15.7%), mineral fertilisers - 24.2mn tonnes (+25.1%), ore - 12.6mn tonnes (+6.0%), cargo on ferries - 6.6mn tonnes (an increase of 1.6 times).
The volume of liquid cargo transshipment amounted to 436.8mn tonnes (+3.4%), including crude oil - 256.0mn tonnes (+7.5%), oil products - 138.8mn tonnes (-5.3% ), liquefied gas - 35.2mn tonnes (+8.8%), food cargo - 4.5mn tonnes (+8.6%).
RUSSIA Country Report September 2023 www.intellinews.com