April 15 - In the first quarter of 2015 the Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg (SP SPb) handled 2 million tonnes of cargo, an increase of 5 percent compared with the same period in 2014.
The volume of general cargo handled amounted to 1.6 million tonnes, while loose and bulk cargoes made up 0.4 million tonnes.
SP SPb put the increase down in part to the growth in steel exports, with the volume of ferrous metals handled by the port growing by 8 percent year-on-year.
In the first quarter of 2015 SP SPb handled 83,000 tonnes of ro-ro cargoes, which is a 38 percent decrease compared with 2014. SP SPb attributed the drop to the downfall in the Russian automobile market.
The export cargo flow of the port increased by 6 percent year-on-year to 1.7 million tonnes, while import cargo flow increased by 4 percent compared with the same period in 2014. However, the import-export balance remained unstable, with exports making up 85 percent of the company's share and imports amounting to just 15 percent.
