In 2025, Novorossiysk handled 168 million tons of cargo — 29% more than Ust-Luga, the nearest competing port (130 million tons), and twice as much as Vostochny Port in the Far East. Every fifth ton of Russian sea exports passed through Novorossiysk — Urals oil and Kazakhstani CPC Blend, wheat for Egyptian elevators, containers with fertilizers and metals for Asian and African markets. In 2026, a terminal is being built at the port for 120.7 billion rubles, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium plans to transship a record 72 million tons of oil through the local mooring complex, and container turnover has exceeded 1.1 million TEU for the first time. These figures are underpinned by three factors — the reorientation of Russian exports from the Baltic to southern routes, a pivot to Asian markets, and large-scale investments in infrastructure.
Rating of Russian ports 2025 — 168 million tons and 19% of the market
According to InfraNews, Novorossiysk retained its leadership among the country's sea ports in 2025. Total transshipment — 168 million tons, this is 19% of the total cargo turnover of all Russian ports. The gap with competitors is not narrowing. Ust-Luga took second place with 130 million tons (minus 3% per year), Vostochny Port — third with 85 million tons (minus 4%). Primorsk, St. Petersburg and another Baltic port hold the fourth, fifth and sixth places.
In the Azov-Black Sea basin, Novorossiysk stands alone. The total cargo turnover of the basin in 2025 is 265.4 million tons, and 63% of this volume was provided by Novorossiysk alone. Taman handled 29.5 million tons (+4.1%), Tuapse — 21.8 million tons (+1.7%). The ports of Kavkaz and Rostov-on-Don, on the contrary, failed — minus 35% and minus 19.7%, respectively, which pulled the average indicator of the basin down by 3.9%.
The Ministry of Transport of the Krasnodar Krai records that up to 30% of all foreign trade and transit cargo of Russian sea ports pass through the region's ports. Novorossiysk forms a large part of this flow and, unlike its competitors, showed growth in 2025, not a decline.
In the transshipment structure, oil occupies a dominant position. Liquid cargo in 2025 increased by 11% — up to 122 million tons. Dry cargo decreased by 16% — to 45.5 million tons. The weak grain season and the decline in metallurgical exports through the region had an impact. At the same time, the ratio of liquid to dry cargo is steadily shifting in favor of oil, reflecting the logic of reorienting Russian hydrocarbon exports to southern routes.
CTC transshipped a record 70 million tons of oil through one terminal
A few kilometers north of Novorossiysk, in the bay near Yuzhny Oзереевка, there are three выносных причальных устройств of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. In 2025, 70.52 million tons of oil passed through them — on 587 tankers, of which 142 are Aframax and 445 are Suezmax. According to official CPC data, this is 7 million tons and three vessels more than the year before.
The Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline with a length of 1 511 km transports more than two-thirds of all export oil from Kazakhstan. The CPC marine terminal accounts for over 80% of Kazakhstan's seaborne oil exports. Russia also transports its own raw materials through CPC — from the Caspian fields.
For 2026, the consortium has planned 72 million tons — a 2% increase from the already record 2025. This single terminal exceeds the capacity of many Russian ports — the entire Vostochny Port handled 85 million tons of all types of cargo in 2025. CPC General Director Nikolay Gorban reported at a meeting with the Minister of Energy of Kazakhstan that both new выносных причальных устройств have been produced, one of them has been delivered to Novorossiysk and installation works are underway.
CPC facilities were attacked several times in 2025–2026. In February 2026, seven UAVs hit the Kropotkinskaya pumping station. In November 2025, an unmanned boat damaged VPU-2. In April 2026, attacks hit the mooring device and loading ramp. The consortium launched the replacement of both old VPUs in parallel with repair works and did not revise the planned transshipment figures for the year.
Black Sea pivot — how Novorossiysk took traffic from the Baltic
Until 2022, Russian oil exports were distributed relatively evenly among several basins. Ust-Luga and Primorsk provided a significant share of Baltic shipments. After 2022, the structure changed. European buyers left, routes shifted towards Asia and the Middle East — where it is more convenient to ship from Black Sea and Far Eastern ports.
In February 2026, the Price Index Center (PIC) recorded a 63.6% increase in oil exports through Novorossiysk — up to 54 thousand tons per day. The port's share in total seaborne shipments of Russian oil rose from 8% to 14%. At the same time, the Baltic lost volumes due to logistical and political difficulties, and part of the traffic shifted to the Black Sea route and the Far East.
The Black Sea route is convenient for several reasons. Turkey has not joined Western sanctions and accepts Russian oil. The Suez Canal is the closest exit to the Indian Ocean and Asian markets. The distance from Novorossiysk to Indian refineries along the route around Africa (bypassing the unstable Red Sea) is about 35 days — acceptable for long-term contracts with Indian buyers.
In April 2026, UAV attacks on the Sheskharis terminal stopped Urals oil shipments from April 13 to April 19. The following week, exports recovered — total seaborne exports of Russian oil rose to 406 thousand tons per day — 14.5% higher than the previous week. During the first week of resumed shipments, two tankers passed — Suezmax heading to China and Aframax with an undisclosed destination. The speed of recovery showed that the port handled the incident as a routine operational сбой, not as a critical stoppage.
Grain terminals — 2025 slump and return to growth
Russia's two largest grain terminals are located in Novorossiysk. The KSK terminal (DeloPorts stevedoring holding) transshipped 7.4 million tons in 2025 — 28.6% less than the previous year (10.3 million tons). The Novorossiysk Grain Terminal (NZT, Demetra-Holding) shipped 5.47 million tons — minus 24.4% from the 2024 record (7.24 million tons). Both remained leaders in their segments — KSK is first in grain in the country, NZT is the largest complex for transshipping grain and non-hazardous liquid cargo.
The decline is not related to infrastructure problems of the terminals. The main reason is the poor grain harvest in 2024: the fields simply did not produce enough raw materials for export. Additionally, the government set a quota for grain exports for the first half of 2025 at 10.6 million tons against 29 million tons in the same period in 2024. The market began to recover in the second half of the year — in August, October and November, KSK transshipped over 1 million tons of grain per month. In the fourth quarter of 2025, KSK's transshipment volume increased by 4.3% year-on-year.
Through the ports of the Krasnodar Krai, 32.9 million tons of grain passed in 2025, of which wheat accounted for 30.7 million tons — 93% of the region's grain export. The main buyers are Egypt, Turkey, Iran and North African countries. Novorossiysk, as the closest deep-water Black Sea port to the grain-producing regions of the country, retains a natural geographical advantage over any Baltic grain terminal.
In 2025, KSK commissioned a ship unloading machine that accepts export grain cargo from river-sea class vessels and transfers them to ocean bulk carriers. Previously, the terminal accepted grain only from road and rail transport. The new route through internal waterways reduces the load on the congested southern railway line and reduces dependence on рейдовой transshipment near the Kavkaz port.
NZT will implement a development program until 2028 — building railway infrastructure, new transportation and ship loading facilities, expanding storage capacities. This will give the terminal a reserve for the expected increase in volumes in the new grain season.
Containers and new flights to China
In 2023, Novorossiysk for the first time transshipped more than 1 million TEU — a psychologically important mark for a large port. In 2025, the volume amounted to 1.11 million TEU (+4.3% to 2024). The port took third place in Russia in container turnover with a share of 20.8%, уступая Vladivostok and the Greater St. Petersburg Port. According to PortNews, the NUTEP container terminal (DeloPorts) became the second in the country in terms of transshipment volume — 624.3 thousand TEU (+1.9%), holding the first place in the Azov-Black Sea basin.
The main engine of growth is export flow. In 2024, loaded container exports through Novorossiysk increased by 25.5% — the surplus of empty containers in Russia and the emergence of new lines to Asian destinations gave such a result. Containers are loaded at the Novorossiysk hub and arrive by trains and trucks from other regions of the country.
In December 2024, the FESCO transport group launched a direct sea service FBSS (FESCO Black Sea Service) between Chinese ports and Novorossiysk via the Suez Canal. Ships sail from Nansha via Ridzhao, Ningbo and Shanghai to Novorossiysk and back. The container ship with a capacity of 1 660 TEU departs once a month; since the beginning of 2025, the second ship of the same class has been put on the line. Transit time is about 25 days. Export loading includes fertilizers, non-hazardous chemicals and agricultural products; import includes consumer goods, finished cars and machine kits.
Import container flow through the Azov-Black Sea basin increased in 2025 to 48 thousand TEU per month against 35–45 thousand in 2023–2024, according to a study by TD Partner. Novorossiysk, Taman and Azov receive cargo from Turkey, the UAE and India, replacing broken western supply chains. The Indian route via the Suez is redirected around Africa due to the crisis in the Red Sea — delivery takes about 35 days, which is acceptable for most types of cargo.
120 billion rubles are invested in the port until 2027
A transshipment complex with a capacity of 12 million tons per year is being built on the site of the Novorossiysk Shiprepair Yard (NSRY) — with the possibility of expansion to 20 million tons. Investments — 120.7 billion rubles. Co-owners — NMTP and Metalloinvest holding. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2026, a large-scale stage of work was launched, reports PortNews, mooring structures are being built, artificial land plots are being created, shore protection is underway. Commissioning is scheduled for December 2027.
The complex is designed for transshipping iron ore raw materials — iron ore concentrates (IOC), fluxed and unfluxed pellets (IRP), hot-briquetted iron (HBI), pig iron in pigs, sheet steel, billet. For Metalloinvest — one of the world's largest producers of metallized raw materials — Novorossiysk will become a direct exit to world markets without intermediate transshipments. The concession agreement with Rosmorrechflot is concluded for 49 years with the option of extension for up to 5 years.
At the same time, NMTP is building a mineral fertilizer terminal with a capacity of 6 million tons per year. Budget — 28.4 billion rubles, commissioning period — until 2030. Russia is among the world's largest exporters of fertilizers, and most of this flow now leaves through the Baltic. The new Black Sea terminal will redirect part of the volumes to the southern route — where buyers are geographically closer.
Total investments in these two objects alone exceed 149 billion rubles — excluding NMTP's own CapEx, which amounted to 19.3 billion rubles in 2025. Russian ports have not seen a construction program of this scale since the mid-2000s. Upon completion of both projects, Novorossiysk will add up to 18 million tons of new cargo per year to its capacity.
NMTP finances — revenue of 76.5 billion rubles and profit growth
PJSC NMTP is the largest public port operator in the country and the second largest stevedore in the Azov-Black Sea basin in terms of turnover. The controlling shareholder with a 62% stake is PJSC Transneft. The company's IFRS financial statements for 2025 were published on March 30, 2026.
The group's revenue for 2025 is 76.5 billion rubles (+7.5% to 2024). Net profit — 40.6 billion rubles (+7.2%). EBITDA increased by 9.3% — to 52.7 billion rubles. According to Russian standards (RAS), revenue amounted to 37.34 billion rubles — growth of 11% year-on-year. The group's total cargo turnover of NMTP at the end of 2025 reached 65 million tons (+5.1%).
Capital investments of 19.3 billion rubles in 2025 — a record for the entire public history of the company — are aimed at building a terminal at the NSRZ site and a new fertilizer berth. NMTP and Metalloinvest increased the authorized capital of their joint subsidiary, LLC UPC NSRZ, to 6.67 billion rubles, forming the financial framework for the first stage of construction.
Revenue growth outpaces physical cargo turnover growth — the group's turnover grew by 5.1%, revenue by 7.5%. This reflects the growth of tariffs and a change in the transshipment structure in favor of more marginal cargo. The company is reducing depreciation expenses, but increasing investment in personnel and maintenance — items that directly determine the reliability of the operation of the berths.
Drones and railways — the two main risks for the port
Novorossiysk operates with two constant risks. The first is drone attacks. Sheskharis, CPC terminals, CPC-R office in the city — all of these have been hit by UAVs and unmanned boats in 2025–2026. In April 2026, oil exports through Sheskharis stood for seven days. A seven-day stop is noticeable on a weekly horizon, but not critical on an annual one: the total cargo turnover of Russian ports for January-April 2026 increased by 2.6% and amounted to 288.6 million tons, follows from the data of the Association of Sea Trade Ports.
The second risk is the railway. Novorossiysk is chronically up against a lack of capacity on the southern railway line. According to industry analysts (SeaNews), infrastructure constraints are hampering the growth of container turnover — the port could transship more containers, but trains and trucks do not have time to deliver cargo. The project for the comprehensive development of the railway transport hub in Novorossiysk worth 14 billion rubles is scheduled for completion by 2030. The first stage was launched at the end of 2025, most of the work is ongoing.
Both risks limit, but do not block the growth of the port. Oil terminals handled each UAV incident without prolonged stops. The railway project is financed by the state and is moving forward, albeit slower than the initial schedule. The speed of unblocking the transport bottleneck will determine how quickly Novorossiysk can increase container and general cargo turnover in 2027–2030.
Novorossiysk today is the convergence point of Russia's oil, grain and container exports to three continents simultaneously. No other domestic port combines such a volume of diverse cargo with such a scale of infrastructure under construction. With the commissioning of the NSRZ terminal in 2027 and the fertilizer berth in 2030, the gap with the nearest competitors will continue to grow.