Dec.4--THE total container volume of the Black Sea region is expected to reach 2.5 million TEU this year, partly due to MSC and Maersk Line scrapping direct calls to the Black Sea port from Southeast Asia on the back of a significant decline in freight turnover and rates.
Another key event influencing the forecast was the expansion of the service operated by Turkon Line.
In 2014, the Black Sea container terminals of Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Bulgaria collectively handled 2,610,623 TEU including empty containers, but excluding transshipments.
Novorossiysk, Russia's main port in the Black Sea region, saw total container throughput in the first quarter of this year fall by 4.25 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. In the second and third quarters of 2015 container turnover was down 4.8 per cent and 23.74 per cent, respectively, compared to the corresponding prior year periods, reported the UK's Port Strategy.
Away from Russia, the total container turnover in Romania and Bulgaria was more positive in the first three quarters of the year, increasing by 3.57 per cent and 4.35 per cent year on year, respectively.
In Ukraine in the first nine months of the year total laden container turnover declined by 28.38 per cent compared to the previous year.
(Source:shippingazette)