Construction of 80-bln-ruble dry cargo area at Port of Taman to begin in 2013
GELENDZHIK. March 22 (Interfax) - Construction of the Port of Taman's 80-billion-ruble dry cargo area will commence in 2013, the head of Russia's sea and river transport agency Rosmorrechflot Victor Vovk said during the YugTrans-2012 transport forum in Gelendzhik on Thursday.
Planned freight turnover at the port after the dry cargo area is launched will total 93.8 million tonnes a year. "At the moment, a list of strategic investors that will join into the dry cargo area's construction is being coordinated," Vovk said.
Last year, the grain terminal LLC Food Ingredients, with a capacity of 3 million tonnes and prospective development to 8.7 million tonnes in the next few years, was commissioned at the Port of Taman. Thanks to the completion of this project, the port's transshipments skyrocketed six-fold in 2011, he said.
"In 2012, we plan to launch a handling complex for oil, petroleum product and liquefied petroleum gas transshipments to the Port of Taman with CJSC Tamanneftegaz, with a capacity of 4.6 million tonnes per year," Vovk said.
Advisor to UCL Holding's General Director for Stevedoring Activities Valentin Varvarenko said that the holding intends to build three terminals at the Port of Taman: a coal terminal capable of handling 16 million tonnes, a container terminal (3 million TEU (20-foot equivalent units)) and a steel terminal (6 million tonnes). It plans to commission all three terminals in 2017, after which the port's cargo turnover will top 90 million tonnes per year. Within ten to 15 years, its turnover could grow to 212 million tonnes per year.
UCL Holding plans to invest about $2 billion in building the three terminals, Varvarenko told Interfax.
"We expected to begin constructing these terminals at the Port of Taman's dry cargo area in the spring of 2014. This year we plan to choose operators for these terminals and start preliminary design, which will finish up by the end of next year," he said, adding that UCL Holding intends to use only its own funds to implement the project.
Tentatively, the maximum period of the project's return will not exceed 15 years, Varvarenko said.
Raising the port's capacities will resolve two major challenges - fully covering the shortage of port throughput capacities in the south of Russia and ensuring a 20% excess supply to maintain international freight flows, he said.
In August of last year, there were six companies vying for the opportunity to build and operate dry cargo terminals at the Port of Taman; now there are 17. "As of today, it would be realistic to start preliminary design work for constructing the second phase of the Port of Taman. The second phase should be built in the Taman Bay, since its shore allows for creating a waterfront for at least 100 kilometers. That is a guarantee for Russia's port needs for the next 50 years," Varvarenko said.