Russia's sea ports handled in January and February a total of 71.58 million metric tons of cargo, an increase of 5.2% compared with the first two months of 2008, according to the figures released Wednesday by the national association of sea ports.
Total throughput of liquid cargo increased during the period by 13.6% to 45.95 million tons, while dry cargo throughput fell by 7.1% to 25.63 million tons.
Ports in Russia's North-West increased throughput by 0.7% to 32.94 million tons, with dry cargo handling falling by 17.5% on the year to 10.55 million tons and liquid cargo handling increasing by 12.3% to 22.39 million tons.
Ports in Russia's Southern Black Sea region increased throughput by 19.3% to 27.39 million tons, with liquid cargo handling increasing by 16% to 19.21 million tons and dry cargo handling increasing by 27.9% to 8.18 million tons.
Ports in Russia's Far East decreased throughput in January and February by 9.1% to 11.25 million tons, with dry cargo handling falling by 18% to 6.9 million tons and liquid cargo handling increasing by 9.7% to 4.35 million tons.
The considerable increase in handling by Russia's southern sea ports is due to the Russian railway authority RZhD's introduction of lower railway tariffs for the transport of export cargoes to the ports. This resulted in the redirection of export cargoes to Russian ports from ports in Ukraine.