Ministry sees Russian seaports’ cargo traffic rising 5% in 2018

KALININGRAD, Feb 1 (PRIME) -- The cargo traffic of Russian seaports may grow 5% in 2018 from 786.97 million tonnes in 2017, Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky told reporters on Thursday.

“I think that I could definitely speak about a 5% (increase). Last year we had 800 million tonnes of cargo traffic, which is an almost 10% (growth). It is very difficult to forecast anything in January taking into account the launches of new facilities, other dynamics, but we have a large positive impact from grain, in which we grew to 47 million tonnes from 35 (million tonnes) this year, but it mainly depends on the harvest. We only have logistics limitations,” he said.

Strengthening of the ruble has a positive impact on container transportation, and seaports constructed new container terminals. “We have a deficit of port capacities for coal, grain, and mineral fertilizers, everything here works for a future increase in cargo traffic,” he said.

End