Global Ports Investments has claimed to have “successfully met the challenges” of the COVID-19 pandemic after posting a year-on-year (YoY) consolidated marine container throughput increase of 6.6% in 2020.
In a statement, the Russia-based terminal operator said its revenue and operating profit had also increased by 6.2% 8.7% YoY respectively.
The company’s performance in 2020 surpasses that of the wider Russian container market, which declined by 0.8% YoY.
Albert Likholet, CEO, Global Ports, said that despite supply chain disruption and macro-economic volatility, the market flattened out at the end of the year.
“Global Ports’ 2020 results, in turn, prove that we are on the right track with our strategy implementation,” Likolet said.
“We outperformed the Russian container market for the third year in a row and achieved double digit growth in bulk cargo handling.
“Although containerised export remains strong and we are seeing some encouraging signs of growth in containerised imports towards the end of 2020, the market continues to be highly competitive and the outlook is still far from certain.
“We remain fully mobilised, committed to our strategy of driving productivity and innovation across our operations and remaining relentlessly focused on our clients, maintaining their loyalty and trust by providing the highest service standards in the industry”.
Speaking to PTI in February 2021, the company said technological innovations such as paperless documents were vital to improving the capacity of the Russian containerised market.
It is particularly important to increasing the resilience of the country’s inland supply chain, particularly at pinch points such as border crossings and railway hubs, which suffer from a lack of physical and smart infrastructure.