Russia's Delo Group intends to enter grain trading segment - group board chairman

MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The Delo group of companies plans to engage in grain trading and is considering forming a bulk carrier fleet, Delo Group Board Chairman Sergei Shishkarev said.

"We do not hide our ambitions to engage in grain trading," Shishkarev said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel on Friday.

The formation of an in-house bulk carrier fleet is being considered for maritime transportation of grain, he said.

The KSK grain terminal (Novorossiysk, part of Delo Group) increased grain transshipment to 10.3 million tonnes in 2024, Shishkarev said.

The company has plans to expand the capacity of the KSK terminal to 15 million tonnes per year. The timeline for implementing this investment project could be two and a half years, he said.

As previously reported, the KSK terminal set a record by shipping 8.2 million tonnes for export in 2023. The transshipment volume thus grew 25.6% in 2024.

KSK is a deep-water terminal. A deep-water berth was commissioned in 2021, capable of simultaneously accommodating two vessels with a carrying capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes each.

The Delo group of companies manages sea container terminals in the Azov-Black Sea, Baltic and Far Eastern basins, a network of railway container terminals, and a fleet of containers and fitting platform railcars. Delo Group's transport and logistics business includes intermodal container operator Transcontainer and the multimodal transport operator Ruscon, while the stevedoring business includes the DeloPorts holding and Global Ports, the leading operator of container terminals.