This is reported by the Marine Merchant Ports' Association in the press release, which come in hand at RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
In comparison with 2004 January, the turnover increased by 25 percent.
For the first time, the Baltic basin has become leader in freight handing in Russia, leaving behind the Southern region. Freight traffic of ports in the North-Western basin has increased by over a third. "In January the regional ports put through 12.6 million tonnes (a 38.8-percent growth), including 5.4 million tonnes of dry and 7.2 million tonnes of liquid freight. The growth in oil handling was over 57 percent and in dry cargo handling 19 percent", the press release reads.
The freight-traffic increment happened in each of Russia's North-Western port - the volume of handling by stevedore companies in the St.Petersburg port increased by 41 percent, in the Murmansk port by 27 percent, in the Kaliningrad port by 9 percent.
As many as 5.5 million tonnes of cargoes were handled by ports in the Far Eastern region, which is 9.8 percent more than in the same period last year.
Freight traffic in the Southern basin increased by 19 percent to 11.5 million tonnes, the press release says.
