Industry news

In January-December 2017, the volume of shipments undertaken by vessels of North-Western Shipping Company (NWSC, a company of UCL Holding) increased by 3.5%, year-on-year, to 5.8 million tons, the company says in a press release.

Approximately 1.9 million tons (which equals to 33%) of the shipping overall was conducted by the new vessels of NWSC – 10 vessels of DCV36 project (lead ship – “Amethyst”) and 7 vessels of RSD49 “Neva-Leader” project.

The following shipments were conducted by the vessels of NWSC: 2.2 million tons of grain (+22%, year-on-year), 1.0 million tons of ferrous metal (+11%), 0.86 million tons of chemical and mineral fertilizers (+10%), 0.7 million tons of coal (+13%), 0.15 million tons of non-ferrous metals (-65%), 0.16 million tons of timber (-64%), 0.74 million tons of other types of cargo.

According to the statement, a major increase of grain and coal shipping was caused by refocusing of the fleet to transportation of those types of cargo amid favorable market conditions. Increase of ferrous material shipping was caused by revival of that cargo shipping from the Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg to the ports of Baltic States and Poland. An increase of fertilizers shipping was caused by an increase of production of that kind of cargo at the markets of countries of the Baltic and North Seas. A decrease of volume of non-ferrous metals cargo shipping was caused by the switch of several of NWSC vessels to more profitable contracts. A decrease of timber cargo shipping was caused by the reduction of processing of Russian round timber in Finland.

The majority of shipping – more than 4.6 million tons which equals to 80% of the overall volume - was formed by export cargo of the shipping company, its quantity growing by 13%. The majority of the exported range of items was formed by grain cargo, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, coal, chemical and mineral fertilizers, timber.

The transportation between foreign ports equaled to 0.7 million tons which forms 17% of the overall volume, thus showing a 10% growth.

The volume of import cargo shipping of the shipping company fell by 34% to 0.1 million tons, which was caused by general reduction of import to Russia from the European countries. The import ratio in the general volume of traffic equaled to 1.7% during 9 months of the year of 2017.

Intra-Russian domestic shipping was almost not performed during covered period.

North-Western Shipping Company, is the largest carrier in the Russian system of waterways, specializing on the export and import shipping of bulk, general and project cargoes, towages of oversized cargo and crafts. The company provides a full range of transport services on the inland waterways of Russia and international sea traffic. The company operates a fleet of 47 river/sea class vessels, 10 sea class vessels and 3 Ro-Ro «river-sea» barges. Total deadweight of the Company's fleet is 288,000 tonnes. About 70% of the fleet was built between 2002 and 2013. Average age of the company’s fleet is 16.5 y.o. The company transports about 5 mln t of cargo per year.

NWSC is part of VBTH - a shipping division of the international transport group UCL Holding that consolidates several Russian shipping, railway, stevedore and logistics companies. The division also comprises Volga Shipping Company, V.F.Tanker and a number of shipbuilding assets.

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