Russian Railways and SUEK to develop Vanino-Sovetskaya Gavan transport hub
The Heads of the Russian Railways and the SUEK have visited the construction site of the largest coal terminal in Russia in the Muchka Bay of the Vanino port The Russian Railways and the Siberian Coal and Energy Company (SUEK) have announced their joint participation in the development of the Vanino-Sovetskaya Gavan transport hub. They reached this agreement on Friday, June 15, during the visit of the Russian Railways President Vladimir YAKUNIN, the Khabarovsk Territory Governor Victor ISHAYEV, and the SUEK General Director Vladimir RASHEVSKIY.At the meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the largest Khabarovsk companies (petroleum, alumina, and metals exports), the participants spoke on the key aspects of the development of the transport hub.It was noted that once SUEK finishes construction of the terminal in the middle of 2008, the terminal will be able to handle up to 12 million tons of coal - both that of SUEK and that of other companies. Given the growing cargo flow from Russia to the Asia-Pacific, the terminal capacity can be extended to 16 - 20 million tons a year with simultaneous development of cargo traffic to Russia, including bulk goods and containers.At the meeting, Mr. YAKUNIN and Mr. RASHEVSKIY signed a memorandum of understanding, which outlines the cooperation between the two companies regarding transportation of cargoes to the Vanino sea port and expanding the railways' existing carrying capacity.SUEK will ensure construction, servicing, and functioning of the bulk coal terminal and its operation at the project capacity. The Russian Railways will work at expanding their carrying capacity from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovetskaya Gavan, in particular by reconstructing the part from Oune to Vysokogornaya with building the new Kuznetsovskiy tunnel, which is on the list of projects that can receive support from the federal government's Investment Fund. The Russian Railways also plan to undertake a number of actions to expand the cargo traffic in the direction of the bulk terminal. The Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) is the nation's largest coal producer and the only Russian company that is among the top ten world's coal leaders. Subsidiaries and affiliates of the company are located in Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Primorsky Territories, Kemerovo, Irkutsk and Chita Areas, the Republics of Khakasia and Buryatia. The company supplies 31% of energy coal on the domestic market and accounts for roughly a quarter of Russian coal exports.In 2006 the company extracted 89.7 million tons and supplied 85.7 million tons of coal. The company exported 23.7 million tons of coal. SUEK employs about 43 thousand people. The Russian Railways is the 100% state-owned railways monopoly of Russia, which handles around 80% of all transportation in Russia, handles 40% of all freight in Russia (1.3 billion tons annually) and over 41% of passenger rail transportation (1.3 billion passenger trips a year). The company has an excellent financial position and full state backing and guarantees.