The overall decrease was caused by a 15.1% year-on-year drop in the turnover of dry bulk, down to 3.81mt, while at the same time the handling of liquid bulk advanced by 11.8% yoy, up to 516.8kt, while general cargo noted a slight downtick of 0.4% yoy only, totalling 977.5kt.

Out of the total, 1.08mt (-4.9% year-on-year) was handled in import traffic, 3.47mt (+20.5% yoy) in export, and the remaining 2.35mt (+22.7% yoy) in transit.

Imports went down by 20% year-on-year to a total of 278.9kt, exports - by 12.1% yoy to 536.6kt.

Whereas in Q1 and Q2 cargo turnover went down, by 6.6% year-on-year and 8.9% yoy, respectively, to 11.17mt and 10.67mt, the third quarter bounced back by 10% yoy, totalling 12.34mt.

The handling of general cargo, the ports' main trade, totalled 12.33mt (-6.9% year-on-year), out of which ferry cargo amounted to 9.83mt (-5.5% yoy).

Whereas exports went down by 8% year-on-year to a total of 4.5mt, imports rose by 160% yoy to 694kt.

Out of the total, international freight traffic totalled 9.8mt (-9.1% year-on-year), while the remaining 53.7kt (-53.9% yoy) was handled in coastal traffic.

Rail-bound container traffic made a slight contraction of 2.6% year-on-year to a total of 334k TEUs.

In September alone, some 50.8k TEUs (+70% year-on-year) were transported along the New Silk Road that connects China with Europe through the territory of Russia.

All three major cargo groups contracted - dry bulk by 33% year-on-year to 10.08mt, general cargo by 11.2% yoy to 5.47mt, and liquid bulk by 24.5% yoy to 2.05mt.