BasEl expects to finalize contract for grain terminal construction at Port of Taman by Oct
MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - Basic Element (BasEl) expects to finalize an investment contract for constructing a grain terminal with a capacity of 5 million tonnes per year at the Port of Taman by the end of Q3 2012, BasEl said in a press release.
BasEl submitted an application to participate in a tender for building the grain terminal to the Russian Transport Ministry on March 6. "Now Basic Element is holding consultations with the Transport Ministry and is studying the possibility of acquiring land plots for constructing the terminal," the press release said.
BasEl's agribusiness division and the company En+ Logistics (En+ Group's logistics subdivision) will jointly develop the terminal.
"The Port of Taman will compensate for the shortage of port capacities in Russia's Azov-Black Sea basin, which is estimated at 3-9 million tonnes per year, as well as attract Russian freights from Ukraine," the press release said.
According to the company's forecasts, perspective freight flows will total roughly 10-16 million tonnes per year in 2010-2015.
"The grain terminal is being constructed at the Port of Taman in the context of Basic Element's development strategy for one of our priority areas - agribusiness - and particularly for expanding the company's presence on the market for storing and processing grain. This is the goal of Kuban AgroHolding's participation in a tender to acquire additional shares in United Grain Company. We are considering the construction of the terminal and the purchase of UGC as strategic investments in agribusiness," the director for BasEl's agribusiness Andrei Oleynik said.
The public-private project for sea trade at the Port of Taman involves constructing over ten terminals with combined freight turnover of roughly 90 million tonnes per year. Investments in the project are planned to total 150 billion rubles (two-thirds from investors). The design and construction of terminal complexes for specific freight flows with private investors' funds are slated to begin after the port's marine components are designed, which is planned to wrap up in Q2 2012. The port is expected to start operating in 2015-2017.