THE Black Sea container terminals of Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine handled 979,000 TEU in the first nine months of 2024, including empty containers and transshipments, reports Fort Lauderdale's Maritime Executive.
This is an increase of 14 per cent compared to the same period last year, and the jump reflects the revival of containerised trade to and from Ukrainian ports.
This review considers laden container trade by sea only, since waterborne container traffic in Ukraine is about 25 per cent of the total.
Laden container turnover increased in all these countries, and the highest growth was achieved by Ukraine (79 per cent).
Laden container turnover in Russia's port of Novorossiysk increased seven per cent to 570,000 TEU. About 40 percent of this volume was transported by MSC and Turkish carriers in the Black Sea, while the other 60 per cent were transported by local carriers in Russia.
During this period, 53 per cent of full containers handled were imported, with 47 per cent of the volume being exported. It is estimated that the share of laden containers was 77 per cent and empty containers made up 22 per cent.
Import volumes to the aforementioned countries increased by 19 per cent compared to 2023. The highest import volume increase was shown by Ukraine - 116 per cent, a record rate of growth.
In Romania there was an increase of 23 per cent, while in Bulgaria there was a decrease of about three per cent. Exports from these countries increased 10 per cent, mainly because of Ukrainian and Bulgarian export volume growth of 64 per cent and 14 per cent. There was a slight increase in laden export volume in Romania.
Thus, the percentage of laden volume handled by each country in the first nine months of 2024 was distributed as follows: Romania - 70 per cent, Bulgaria - 22 per cent and Ukraine - eight per cent.
It is worth noting that significant volume growth in Ukraine was driven by the restoration of direct container feeder connections. In the beginning of 2024, a local forwarding company deployed a few vessels transshipping containers from Constanta to Chornomorsk port. Later on, MSC and Maersk deployed their own vessels from Tekirdag and Port Said, respectively.
Historically, Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM were leading carriers in the Black Sea region, and their total share of the market was more than 60 per cent in recent years.
Georgia's total volume in 9m 2023 reached 518,000 TEU, while our estimation is about 15 per cent lower in 2024, when the total volume is expected to reach about 440,000 TEU.
The forecast of container turnover growth in the Black Sea region for 2024-2025 shows that growth will amount to 5-7 per cent and will exceed 3 million TEU in 2025. The major driver of that growth will be further restoration and expansion of direct container connection to Ukrainian ports.
https://www.shippingazette.com/news?news_id=9250100000725
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