At the XII Conference Equipment and Technologies for Ports and Cargo Terminals, organized by Maritime Ports magazine, Alexander Goloviznin, Director of the Analytics and Logistics division at Morstroytechnology, discussed key trends in the port industry in relation to various types of cargo.
“Ports are built for cargo. Wherever there is cargo flow or a need for transshipment, a port is established,” the expert said.
According to Goloviznin, despite the crisis in the coal sector, coal transshipment terminals continue to grow. Currently, this includes not only captive terminals owned by exporters—a common trend in past years—but also market-oriented terminals.
The first and second phases of the Sukholod terminal have been launched in the Primorsky region. On the western coast of the Kola Bay, transshipment of solid fuel is expected to start at the Lavna terminal this year. The Elga port and private Pacific Railroad are under construction in the Khabarovsk region.
The fertiliser transshipment sector has been one of the most dynamic in recent years. Russian mineral fertilisers have not faced sanctions, and exports continue to grow, constrained more by domestic factors such as quotas rather than external ones. In 2023, 35.9 million tonnes of mineral fertilisers were transshipped, marking a 19.1% increase. Additionally, Belarus lost its maritime access via the Baltic states, leading potash and other products to transit through Russian ports or via railway to China.
“Complexes for mineral fertiliser transshipment are actively being constructed: EuroChem in Ust-Luga, OTEKO in Taman. The demand for such terminals is high, production is expanding, and new projects are launching,” Goloviznin reported.
Another developing sector is grain transshipment, which saw a 4.1% growth to 64.2 million tons. The Azov-Black Sea basin leads this market, but capacity is also increasing in the Baltic region. In September 2023, a grain terminal at Vysotsky Port LLC was opened, and grain shipments began at the Lugaport terminal in Ust-Luga Port. Although the volumes of these terminals are still modest, cargo turnover is on the rise.
Container cargo flows have drastically shifted in the past two to three years, with large volumes of goods redirected from Russian ports in the European part of the country to the Far East. Notably, container cargo transshipment increased by 9.9% to 45.5 million tons.
“Development is underway: ports are being built, terminals are being modernized and equipped, and storage areas are being expanded. Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company in Vostochny Port has purchased additional land, and expansion is being designed. Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port is operating very effectively,” said the representative of Morstroytechnology.
The logistics of the Northern Sea Route, according to Goloviznin, is developing along two trajectories.
“The first involves exporting resources extracted in the Arctic, primarily oil and gas from the Gulf of Ob. NOVATEK is advancing projects to increase liquefied natural gas exports. In 2023, 29.6 million tons of LNG were transshipped, showing a 5.7% growth. A port is being built at Nagleyynyn Cape to export copper concentrate from the Baimskoye deposit, while Vostok Oil and Northern Star are developing oil and coal export facilities in the Yenisei Bay,” Goloviznin explained.
The second trajectory involves transit shipping, for which no additional port infrastructure is currently required.
“The addition of port infrastructure in Tiksi, Pevek, or other areas would not contribute to the development of the Northern Sea Route and would be redundant at this stage. Both directions are growing, with transit cargo being shipped alongside exports from domestic cargo bases,” the expert clarified.
Source: Morvesti.
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