OTEKO aims to double granular sulfur handling to 1.5 mln tonnes in 2025
KRASNODAR. Jan 20 (Interfax) - OTEKO Group, the largest investor in port infrastructure at the Taman seaport on the Black Sea, loaded 650,000 tonnes of granular sulfur in 2024, the company's commercial director for bulk business development, Alexander Gaganov told Interfax.
"The OTEKO terminal has been handling granular sulfur for several years already. Storage capacity in Taman enables us to store up to 300,000 tonnes of this product at any one time. Overall sulfur handling totaled almost 650,000 tonnes in 2024. For 2025 we have an even more ambitious plan, to handle about 1.5 million tonnes of sulfur, meaning show growth of more than twofold," Gaganov said.
He said expert forecasts see the world sulfur market growing steadily in the medium term, as sulfur and its compounds are heavily used in various types of industry. Key markets for sulfur shipments from Taman include Morocco, Senegal, Israel, China and Brazil, Gaganov said.
"Transshipment of sulfur at the OTEKO loading terminal is done completely by the closed method. Particular attention is devoted to safety and the environmental aspect in working with this product," Gaganov said.
He recalled that OTEKO also began handling lump sulfur at its Taman terminal in October 2024.
"The launch of lump sulfur handling in October of last year was an important step in the implementation of the company's development strategy. More than 80,000 tonnes of lump sulfur was loaded in 2024. We have fine-tuned all processes and starting in 2025 we are prepared to handle up to a million and more tonnes of lump sulfur," Gaganov said.
OTEKO is the largest private investor in port infrastructure in southern Russia and is developing its stevedoring business in various areas, including handling of bulk cargo, grains, oversized and heavy cargo, as well as oil products and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The bulk cargo terminal has design capacity to handle 70 million tonnes per year.
OTEKO is now carrying out a comprehensive modernization program that includes projects to build a bulk cargo terminal and port industrial park that will include facilities to produce ammonia, urea and methanol, an agribusiness complex, five transhipment complexes and a residential complex.
