«Сумма» увеличивает перевалку
The Far East port Zarubino, owned by FESCO (part of Summa Group) could become the second largest shipment port in Russia. “I think that between today and tomorrow we’ll increase to 100 million tons,” boasted Andrey Zagorsky, Head of port construction, during his presentation of the Big Port Zarubino project (quoted by Interfax). According to the presentation, 80 million tons of shipments per year have already been contracted. Yesterday Summa Group signed agreement with the Chinese Heilongjiang grain company for 10 million tons of grain trans-shipment, as well as agreement with UC RUSAL for 2 million tons of imported alumina trans-shipment, Zagorsky said. Currently, over 100 million tons of cargo is transferred just through Novorossiysk (NMTP and Delo Ports terminals – 112.6 million tons in 2013, according to the Association of Commercial Seaports).
UC RUSAL planned to build a terminal for alumina import at the Vanino port. However joint owners of En+ holding sold their shares of the port to the Mechel company last year. “UC RUSAL imports significant volumes of alumina in order to guarantee uninterrupted aluminum production. The company is continually working to improve the logistics system and transport safety. However, it’s too early to discuss anything concrete,” said a UC RUSAL representative.
Currently it is the second increase in Zarubino capacity. Initially, by 2018 Summa Group planned to carry out construction work of port with four terminals and capacity of about 60 million tons – containers, grain, general and bulk cargo, and roll-on/roll-off cargo (vehicles). Now the capacity of the terminals has grown. Another advantage of the terminal is that it allows the transfer of up to 500,000 people per year.
According to Zagorsky, the purpose of the port is to ensure the transit of Chinese goods between the northeastern and southern provinces of China (both of which border Zarubino). The port will compete with the railway, noted a Summa Group representative. According to him, trans-shipment by sea will be $250 cheaper than through existing routes. 60% of Zarubino turnover will fall on the goods transit between the Chinese provinces. “In addition, 30% of goods will be export-oriented from the northeast provinces of China to countries in the Asia-Pacific region and North America,” said Zagorsky. The rest, according to him, will come from the export-import operations of Russian companies.