Freight traffic through the port of Constanta was 10 percent up in Q1 2023 to more than 19 million tons, compared to 17.44 million tons in the first quarter of 2022, which was a record-setting year for Romania’s maritime hub and gateway, the Constanta National Seaport Administration Corporation (CNAPM) announced in a release on Tuesday, write Agerpres.

The increase in total traffic continues the upward trend of recent years. Of the total freight traffic, maritime traffic accounts for 14.5 million tons, and river traffic is 4.6 million tons.

Grain traffic totaled 6.6 million tons, up 13 percent year-over-year.

Significant increases in traffic were also recorded in the following freight groups: oil seeds, oleaginous fruits, crude oil, petroleum products, fertilizers (natural and chemical), iron ores, miscellaneous items.

„Container traffic also increased significantly from 1.67 million tons of freight in Q1 2022 to 2.24 million tons in the same period of 2023, marking a rise by 34 percent. The same goes for TEU containers, specifically 199,000 TEUs were handled in Q1 2023, compared to 170,400 in Q1 2022, by 16.8 percent more,” said CNAPM general director Florin Vizan.

Decreases in traffic were mainly in solid mineral fuels, ores and non-ferrous waste, metal products, cement, quicklime, prefabricated building materials, raw or processed minerals, chemical products.