The volumes that were shipped from Russian ports were increased by 25% in 2018, according to data from the Russian Ministry of Transport. Specifically, 97.2 million tonnes were handled by regional seaports, from which almost 70% was oil products and LNG. In 2018, the volumes of goods shipped on the Northern Sea Route amounted to more than 18 million tons.
Specifically, the most major increase was experienced in Sabetta, as the port handled LNG produced by Novatek in the grand Yamal LNG project.
Yamal LNG is currently the largest LNG project in Russia with an aggregate share of about 5% of the global LNG market.
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Additionally, port installations in Murmansk in 2018 handled an overall of 60.7 million tonnes, reaching 18.1% more than 2017.
It’s the first time in the post-Soviet period that Murmansk had such high shipping volumes. The previous high was set in 2010 when 56.6 million tons was handled.
Also, In 2018 the Murmansk Commercial Seaport handled 16.25 million tons, which is a 3.5% rise from 2017, port General Director Aleksandr Masko reported.
Coal leads the way in transporting goods, followed by iron, nickel and apatite concentrates, as well as construction materials and several other kinds of goods.
However, the biggest growth in domestic shipping is oil and gas, which is reloaded in ship-to-ship operations.
Among the ports, the port of Arkhangelsk also faced an increased in 2018. Goods volumes amounted to 2.8 million tons, an increase of 15.5% compared with 2017.
Yet, not all regional ports were benefited from 2018’s growth. For instance, Lukoil’s Varandey terminal had a decline in volumes by as much as 15.3%. The terminal in 2018 handled a total of 7 million tons of oil.
The decrease in Varandey’s deliveries was due to the conflict between operator Lukoil and Rosneft. As a result, Rosneft in 2018 introduced a 50% production cut in the fields delivering to Varandey.
