May 2--RUSSIA's sea ports from January to March collectively handled 1.198 million TEU, an increase of 12.6 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Russian Sea Commercial Ports Association.

　　Over the reporting period, import volumes rose by 14.62 per cent to 527,150 TEU driven by loaded imports, which grew by 16.29 per cent to 502,610 TEU, while volumes of imported empty boxes fell by 11 per cent.

　　Exports were up by 12.89 per cent to 501,560 TEU, with loaded and empty volumes increasing by 12.15 per cent and 14.08 per cent respectively. Loaded boxes accounted for 62 per cent of all Russian containerised exports, which include shipments of paper, chemicals, mineral fertilisers, metal and wood products.

　　Cabotage and transit volumes constitute 14 per cent of all Russian container traffic. In the first quarter cabotage throughput rose by 7.86 per cent to 156,540 TEU. Transit containers declined by 11.2 per cent to 13,520 TEU.

　　The growth was achieved in all major Russian port regions. The biggest increase was recorded by the Black Sea ports: up 25.57 per cent to 227,810 TEU. The largest container port here is Novorossiysk, which handled 224,070 TEU, up 25.66 per cent mainly due to NUTEP terminal that became the fastest growing container facility over this period, where volumes rose by 49 per cent to 106,830 TEU.

　　NUTEP, part of Delo Ports Group, is currently developing a project to raise its capacity to 700,000 TEU by 2021, which will allow the port of Novorossiysk to enhance the port's capacity to 1-1.1 million TEU.

　　Russia's largest container ports - the Baltic ports - handled 577,600 TEU, an increase of 7.82 per cent. St Petersburg alone, the biggest port in terms of container traffic, registered throughput of 503,820 TEU, up 8.25 per cent.

　　The two leading container terminals: Container Terminal Saint-Petersburg, owned by UCL Holding, handled 168,540 TEU, up 6.96 per cent, and First Container Terminal, owned by Global Ports, handled 140,550 TEU, up 17.6 per cent.

　　The Far Eastern ports registered a comparatively slower growth pace this first quarter, just 14 per cent, whereas in the same period last year they recorded growth of 29.8 per cent. Of their total throughput of 357,640 TEU, Vladivostok handled the most with 196,110 TEU, up 14.02 per cent, cementing its number three position among Russia's container ports.

　　It is followed by the Vostochny port and its only container terminal - Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company (VSC) with 99,600 TEU, up 21 per cent.

　　The Arctic facilities, which primarily handle cabotage containers, saw an increase of 5.98 per cent to just 35,000 TEU. As for the Caspian ports (Astrakhan), they handled only 650 TEU, marking a decrease of 12 per cent.