Last year the total cargo turnover of Russian sea ports increased by only 1,1 percent. That growth was achieved mainly by the sea terminals of the Northwest basin which increased their volume of cargo handling by 2,6 percent, Portnews.ru reports. Meanwhile, the turnover of the sea ports in southern Russia dropped by 0,5 percent and the ports of the Far East stayed on the level of 2007. The turnover of Arkhangelsk sea port grew by 19,8 percent and reached 1,7 million tons. The Murmansk sea port turnover dropped by 0,8 percent to a total of 14,3 million tons. Total cargo turnover of the Northwestern sea ports in 2008 was 214 million tons, while the southern ports of Russia had a total of 159,2 million tons and the Far Eastern sea ports – 80,4 million tons. According to information from the Russian Association of the Sea Ports, the year 2008 showed major decline in transportation of timber products (37,5 %), crude oil (1,9%), grain (8,2%), chemical fertilizers (4,2%).
