OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2010. The Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (LSE: NCSP, RTS and MICEX: NMTP) hereby reports its consolidated operating results for January-March 2010. In the reporting period NCSP Group’s cargo turnover amounted to 21 504.7 thousand tons, which exceeds the cargo turnover of January-March 2009 by 2.7% (567.3 thousand tons).

Commenting on the Q1 2010 operating results Chairman of PJSC NCSP Alexander A. Ponomarenko said: "Judging by January-March results of this year we can speak of positive trends in different segments of the Group’s cargo mix. First and foremost I am referring to container traffic. NCSP Group container turnover in Q1 2010 exceeded not only the volumes of the same period last year, but also the results achieved in January-March 2008 – 86.2 thousand TEU in the first three months of 2010 versus 84.9 thousand TEU in the same period of 2008".

In the first quarter of 2010 the total amount of cargoes that demonstrated a positive growth rate recorded an aggregate growth of 1 570.8 thousand tons versus Q1 2009. Growing volumes of container cargo, ferrous metals, timber, and UAN liquid fertilizer contributed 44.3% of this increase.

On the other hand, the aggregate decrease of the cargoes that demonstrated negative dynamics totaled 1 003.5 thousand tons, which is mostly conditioned by shrinking iron ore volumes against the backdrop of compensating growth in ferrous metals.

Volumes of Liquid cargo in Q1 2010 have grown by 1.5% (210.2 thousand tons) versus same period last year. Total turnover of the Sheskharis terminal in January-March this year increased by 1.6% (198 thousand tons), notwithstanding the drop in crude oil volumes which was fully offset by growing exports of oil products. The total volume of oil products loaded by the Group’s companies in January-March 2010 grew by 18.4% (587.7 thousand tons). Volumes of UAN liquid fertilizer also continued to rebound in Q1 2010 and grew by 51.4% (41.1 thousand tons) versus Q1 2009.

Bulk cargo volumes in January-March 2010 reduced by 7.3% (251.4 thousand tons) versus same period last year, which results from the 557.5 thousand tones decrease in iron ore shipments. Other cargoes in this segment show sustainable growth: grain by 6.5% (134.9 thousand tons); mineral fertilizers by 34.8% (127.2 thousand tons); and raw sugar by 27.5% (64.4 thousand tons).

General cargo handling in Q1 2010 increased by 14.4% (364.7 thousand tons) versus same period of 2009. Ferrous metals volumes are up by 11.2% (229.8 thousand tons), timber – by 71.6% (188.5 thousand cubic meters), and perishable cargoes – by 93.5% (35.3 thousand tons).

Container traffic in the reporting period increased by 25.5 thousand TEU over the same period last year. In March versus February this year NCSP Group container traffic has grown by 56.9% (14.4 thousand TEU), partially due to the fact that one of the world’s largest container lines – Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) – resumed calls to Group’s terminals.