KIEV, Sept. 6 - Odessa maritime merchant port in August increased handling of grain cargo by a preliminary 53.9% year-over-year thanks to the good harvest of grain crops, to 720,600 tons, which allowed a rise of 4.3% in general handling, to 1.89 million tons, the port's administration reported.

The administration said that dry cargo handling grew by 6.8%, to 1.637 million tons, while liquid cargo handling was down by 9.6%, to 252,700 tons.

A rise of 22.6% was seen for container handling, to 602,300 tons, while bulk ore handling dropped by 10.8%, to 205,700 tons, and ferrous metal handling plunged by 3.6 times, to 86,100 tons.