Sheremetyevo, Volga-Dnepr to develop cargo hub under 15-yr agreement
SHEREMETYEVO. April 18 (Interfax) - Volga-Dnepr Group and Sheremetyevo International Airport have signed a 15-year agreement to develop an international cargo service hub at the airport, an Interfax correspondent reported from the signing ceremony.
The companies will jointly develop the airport's new cargo complex, technical servicing capacity and aircraft repair. The project includes construction of a new hangar complex at the airport.
"Our main task is to reckon with the strategic plans of our key partners in the passenger and cargo transportation areas," Sheremetyevo head Mikhail Vasilenko said. "The agreement is a pledge on the effective use of airport infrastructure, to pave the way for growth in the cargo transportation segment in the medium-term outlook," he said.
It was reported earlier that a new 40,000-square-meter cargo complex will be built at Sheremetyevo in 2017. The first stage of the new terminal will have capacity for 380,000 tonnes of cargo a year, expandable to 1 million tonnes a year in future. The terminal will cost an estimated $45 million, Vasilenko said (compared with the estimate of $60 million voiced previously). The Best-Stroy company has already begun work on the new facility, he said.
Volga-Dnepr is obligated to ensure transport of up to 430,000 tonnes of cargo by 2020 and to assist in developing the appropriate infrastructure at the airport.
