Марат ШАЙДАЕВ: перевалка угля на Дальнем Востоке - достаточно хаотичный процесс
The majority of Russian coal companies export their products through their own ports. Magomedov brothers’ Summa Group will orient the company's coal terminal in the Far East towards work with small and medium-sized coal manufacturers, said Marat Shaidaev, member of the Board of Directors, during an interview with ITAR-TASS. In the future, port clients will have the opportunity to become minority shareholders.
- Who will be the terminal's primary clients? Are you concerned that it might not be needed?
- We are initially focusing on small and medium-sized coal companies, that don't have capacity for their own trans-shipping terminals in the Far East. All of the large terminals in the region – both existing and on pending construction – are captive, owned by large coal companies. But experience has shown that this kind of situation creates unbalanced conditions for small and medium-sized contenders. They are forced to negotiate trans-shipment of their products through the terminals of their competitors, which isn't always possible, or they must ship their coal through non specialized trade terminals. It seems to us that current coal trans-shipment in the Far East is a sufficiently chaotic process – products are transferred in small batches, and from any berth. There are also instances of companies transporting their coal across the entire country, from Siberia to the Black Sea ports, because they are unable to export their goal from the Far East.
Two years ago President Vladimir Putin commissioned the construction of equal access coal ports, a task we intend to undertake. After the launch of Summa Group's project, it will become the single largest independent contender on the coal trans-shipment market in the Far East.
- What are the basic terminal specifications? How much money will be invested?
- This project is managed by our company, Primorneftegazprom. The terminal will be built in a few phases. During the first phase, the capacity will be up to 7 million tons per year, with the project developing to a 20 million ton capacity. Overall we plan to build three deep-water berths that will be able to handle vessels with deadweight of up to 100-150 thousand tons. Coal storage capacity will be about 1.3 million tons at one time. The project will be presented in more detail at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.
Investments into the terminal's construction will be over 12 billion rubles of equity and debt. In addition, the government will conduct dredging and construction of berths that will remain as government property. Part of the government's investment will go towards the development of railways within the Eastern region, subject to demand by (to meet the needs of?) our and others' terminals.
- When is the project expected to pass Glavgosekspertiza?
- The project has already received a positive finding from ecological experts, and we expect to pass Glavgosekspertiza by this September. Construction work can begin after this. We can start working on the first phase of objectives in mid-2016.
- Is it possible to attract new partners for the terminal's construction or operations?
- We plan to manage the project on our own, but once the first phase of the terminal is ready to launch, we want to look at the possibility of selling about 20% of shares in a few small portions. Our perspective is that buyers can also become port clients – small and medium-sized companies. Having such shareholders in the port will be an additional guarantee of their products' shipment through the terminal.