Overall Russian Container Turnover Grows 14% In H1 2024

The container turnover of Russian seaports in January-June 2024 amounted to 2.744 million TEU, 14% more than in the same period of 2023, according to the analytical review of Morcentre-TEK.

In general, according to the Morcentre’s data, 987,500 TEU – an increase of 15.8% – were loaded for exports, with imports up 15.9% at 1.15 million TEU. Containers still in transit declined, signifying an improvement in some of the trade bottlenecks, at just 18,000 TEU, a reduction of 69.3%, while containers in cabotage (in transit via third party operators) were also up by 17.4% at just under 6,000 TEU.

The number of loaded containers increased by 13.7% to 2.045 million TEU, the number of empty containers increased by 15% to 698.5 thousand TEU.

The geographic breakdowns are as follows:

Russian Far East Ports: 1.275 million TEU (-0.2%),
Baltic Sea Ports: 830.9 thousand TEU (+58.6%),
Black Sea-Azov Ports: 555.2 thousand TEU (+6.7%),
Caspian Ports: 4.2 thousand TEU (-37.5%),
Arctic Ports: 78.5 thousand TEU (+0.4%).

Two main statistics are of note. Firstly, the Baltic Ports, which service Europe, increased their volumes by nearly 60%, implying that the EU is receiving increased Russian imports despite sanctions. It appears EU governments are saying one thing about Russian imports and insisting upon sanctions and port closures to Russian vessels, yet doing something else.

Secondly is the figure for the Caspian Sea ports, which have declined. This may be a reaction to fears of the Palestine issue spreading to involve Iran, with significant implications for the North-South Transport Corridor. Should regional war be averted, we would expect these figures to rebound.