OREANDA-NEWS. Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port Group (NCSP Group or the Group) (LSE: NCSP, Moscow Exchange: NMTP) announces that its consolidated cargo turnover in January-May 2014 amounted to 58.1 million tonnes.

PJSC NCSP CEO Yuri Matvienko commented on the results of January-May 2014:

"We continue to shorten the gap from last year's volumes on most cargoes and growing even faster in certain other segments. The growth is consistently driven by oil products, containers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, coal, and timber. To sustain these positive developments NCSP Group is moving forward with its program of technical re-equipment of cargo yards, and purchase of new transshipment machinery".

The total increase of volumes in all cargoes comprised 4 722 thousand tonnes in the reporting period, of which grain accounted for 2 137 thousand tonnes, oil products for 1 647 thousand tonnes, and ferrous metals and containers for 396 thousand tonnes and 293 thousand tonnes respectively.

At the same time the total decrease of volumes in all cargoes comprised 7 914 thousand tonnes, of which crude oil accounted 7 352 thousand tonnes.

The year-on-year lag of total cargo turnover reduced by 1.7 percent points down to -5.2% versus -6.9% for the four months of 2014.

Liquid Cargo

In January-May 2014 NCSP Group loaded 46 248 thousand tonnes of liquid cargo, including 33 513 thousand tonnes of crude oil; 12 311 thousand tonnes of oil products; 271 thousand tonnes and 153 thousand tonnes of liquid fertilizers and seed oils respectively.

The gap in cured oil volumes reduced to -10.9% year-on-year in January-May versus that of -12.6% in January-April.

Oil products volumes were growing at even faster rate of 18.0% year-on-year, which exceeds the growth recorded in January-May by 1.3 percent points. The absolute increase in oil products volumes comprised 1 647 thousand tonnes.

Bulk Cargo

Volumes of bulk cargo totaled 4 388 thousand tonnes in January-May 2014, including 2 503 thousand tonnes of grain, 674 thousand tonnes of iron ore, 564 thousand tonnes of sugar, 381 thousand tonnes of coal, and 253 thousand tonnes of fertilizers.

During the first five months of 2014 the gap in fertilizers and coal reduced by 14.7 and 13.6 percent points down to -33.9% and 9.6% year-on-year versus that of -48.6% and 23.2% year on year for the four months respectively.

Gain continues to lead in growth rates thanks to the good harvest of 2013. Volumes in May were less than in April due to the closing of the 2013-2014 agricultural season and preparations to start exporting the grain from the new harvest of 2014.

General Cargo

General cargo handling increased by 7.9% year-on-year in January-May 2014 and totaled 5 105 thousand tonnes. Grow rate accelerated by 5 percent points from that of January-April 2014.

Volumes of ferrous metal and pig iron increased by 396 thousand tonnes or 10.4% year-on-year and totaled 4 224 thousand tonnes, while growth rate sped up by 4.7 percent points from that of the four months of 2014.

Volumes of timber cargo increased by 36 thousand tonnes or 17.1% year-on-year, while growth rate accelerated by 7.5 percent points from that of the four months of 2014.

Handling of non-ferrous metal in May versus April increased by 12.8 thousand tonnes and reached 429 thousand tonnes total in January-May 2014. The year-on-year gap was down by 8 percent point to -6.7%.

Containers

NCSP Group's container traffic reached 293 thousand TEU in January-May 2014, up 8.6% year-on-year. Container turnover in tonnes continued to grow ahead of TEU by 14.0% year-on-year and totaled 2 385 thousand tonnes, while growth rate sped up by 3.1 percent points from that of January-April 2014.