Norilsk Nickel selling a significant amount of its products via new Tangier transport hub

MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Norilsk Nickel has redirected a significant part of its exports to a hub in North Africa and is selling its products through the port of Tangier in Morocco, Ravil Nasybullov, director of Norilsk Nickel's logistics department, told reporters.

"Our export deliveries are about 350-370,000 tonnes. Nickel mainly goes through the port of Rotterdam. A significant part of copper goes to Tangier," he said.

Last summer, Nasybullov said that the company was considering the possibility of transshipping its products via the ports of North Africa, as well as intensifying its deliveries to Asia. In his opinion, the cornerstone in the development of the eastern corridor is the build-up of the icebreaker fleet, which is a strategic task of the state.

"We are working on the possibility - in the event of the closure of European ports - transshipment via the ports of North Africa. But in fact we are also seriously considering the eastern corridor," he said in July.

The head of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin, also spoke about the development of an alternative metals supply chain focused on China and the markets of Southeast Asia. In the event that the port of Rotterdam refuses to accept the Russian company's goods, the organization of deliveries through the port of Tangier in Morocco is under consideration, Potanin specified in early July. Previously, virtually all of Norilsk Nickel's products were supplied from Murmansk to the European market, where its main consumers were located.

Commenting on the possibility of expanding the fleet, the head of the company's logistics department said on Monday that "given the current situation, the purchase of ships by Russian companies on the world market is practically impossible, and construction is a very long story, although Nornickel continues to look at it from the point of view of design, understanding the cost and construction time.

"At the moment, we have closed this issue by attracting a third-party fleet for a period of about three years. This was implemented at the beginning of this year, and our main products are now going to port in North Africa," Nasybullov said.