Ro-ro at Kavkaz
Construction of a large Ro-Ro cargo ferry terminal at the Russian Black Sea port of Kavkaz was announced. The customer of the project is Rosmorport.
The new terminal project is designed to redirect the flow of Ro-Ro cargoes from the ports of Ukraine to the Russian harbor.
Rivalry on the Black Sea
There are currently 22 Ro-Ro terminals operating on the Black Sea, 4 of them are in Russia and 7 - at the Ukraine’s ports.
Most of the operators and services on the regional market of Ro-ro traffic are related to the provision of Turkish-Russian trade. Russia's share in marine transportation in Turkey reaches 63%, while Ukraine comes next with 20%.
At the same time, the Russian Black Sea ports are a little involved in handling of Ro-Ro cargoes for several reasons. Thus, Sochi is much engaged in construction of the Olympic facilities - and in the future port of Sochi will be reoriented to provide services for cruise liners. Opportunities for the development of ports of Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Gelenjik are limited. Besides, there is a need to relieve traffic on the Novorossiysk-Adler highway and other roads in the region.
In this regard, it was decided to conduct dredging of Kavkaz port waters and to build a new terminal, intended for transshipment 100,000 vehicles a year. The terminal will be located in the Northeastern region of the port’s cargo area for handling both river and sea going ships.
The new terminal project is designed to redirect the flow of Ro-Ro cargoes from the ports of Ukraine to the Russian harbor.
Rivalry on the Black Sea
There are currently 22 Ro-Ro terminals operating on the Black Sea, 4 of them are in Russia and 7 - at the Ukraine’s ports.
Most of the operators and services on the regional market of Ro-ro traffic are related to the provision of Turkish-Russian trade. Russia's share in marine transportation in Turkey reaches 63%, while Ukraine comes next with 20%.
At the same time, the Russian Black Sea ports are a little involved in handling of Ro-Ro cargoes for several reasons. Thus, Sochi is much engaged in construction of the Olympic facilities - and in the future port of Sochi will be reoriented to provide services for cruise liners. Opportunities for the development of ports of Novorossiysk, Tuapse and Gelenjik are limited. Besides, there is a need to relieve traffic on the Novorossiysk-Adler highway and other roads in the region.
In this regard, it was decided to conduct dredging of Kavkaz port waters and to build a new terminal, intended for transshipment 100,000 vehicles a year. The terminal will be located in the Northeastern region of the port’s cargo area for handling both river and sea going ships.
A complex of modern port facilities with protected areas and depths of up to 8 meters are expected to be built at the allocated site and reclaimed territory, and developed the coastal infrastructure, access roads and railway tracks network.
The terminal will include 2 berths for Ro-Ro cargo. The total area of the terminal will be 24.7 ha. The terminal berths will be able to accommodate ships like Extraden (of 10,000dwt, length - 162.7 m, breadth - 25,5 m, DP - 8 pm; draft under the load line - 6,8 m).
Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2011 and to be launched in the forth quarter of 2011.
The terminal construction was ordered by Rosmorport. The volume of investments in the project is estimated at 2.6 billion rubles. The project will be funded from the federal budget under the Federal Program Development of Transport System of Russia (2010 - 2015). The objects that do not relate to federal property, will be ordered by a design company specially created by Rosmorport and a private investor.
The options of financing schemes are currently being worked out.
Ferries and friendship don’t mix
According to plans, the new terminal will be focused on handling trucks and non-self-propelled vehicles. The volume of imported cars is assumed to increase in the proportion general cargo traffic to be passing via the terminal in the future.
There has been an outdoor warehouse at the port of Kavkaz, designed for storage of 3,000 vehicles, but currently it is empty due to insufficient depths of the port, not allowing larger ferries to enter the harbor.
As the Russian Transport Lines’ marketing director Elena Zhadanova commented in an interview with PortNews the project perspectives if dredging makes the harbor waters 8-meter deep, as claimed, then the new terminal will be more than needed and will be able to attract Ro-ro cargo flows from Ukraine.
“Trucks is probably the cargo, the operator of the projected terminal can work with. However, the terminal will be needed for other nomenclature of Ro-Ro cargoes. In addition, we can assume that due to the outdated fleet of commercial vehicles in Russia will may see in the coming years the increase of this equipment supply," says Elena Zhadanova.
As the Ukrainian shipping company Ukrferry (specializes in the ferry service along the Black Sea) said in an interview with PortNews, the project might promising for Russia. However, there is an alternative to the Russian project - the Ukrainian port of Kerch, which is located near the port of Kavkaz. "The Interest of Ukrainian shipping companies for this project will depend on the outcome of the dialogue between the two countries, but for now Russia has taken unilateral decisions," Ukrferry authorities said.
We note in this connection that the Russian company Anship is the leader of ferry traffic on the Black Sea with its 1.7 million tons in 2009, while Ukrferry carried 800,000 tons of cargo, versus 600,000 tons transported by the Turkish companies last year.
The first Russian ferry started operating on the Kavkaz-Poti line back in 2007, taking transit flows of Ukrferry from Ilyichevsk-Poti service line.
Vitaly Chernov.
The terminal will include 2 berths for Ro-Ro cargo. The total area of the terminal will be 24.7 ha. The terminal berths will be able to accommodate ships like Extraden (of 10,000dwt, length - 162.7 m, breadth - 25,5 m, DP - 8 pm; draft under the load line - 6,8 m).
Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2011 and to be launched in the forth quarter of 2011.
The terminal construction was ordered by Rosmorport. The volume of investments in the project is estimated at 2.6 billion rubles. The project will be funded from the federal budget under the Federal Program Development of Transport System of Russia (2010 - 2015). The objects that do not relate to federal property, will be ordered by a design company specially created by Rosmorport and a private investor.
The options of financing schemes are currently being worked out.
Ferries and friendship don’t mix
According to plans, the new terminal will be focused on handling trucks and non-self-propelled vehicles. The volume of imported cars is assumed to increase in the proportion general cargo traffic to be passing via the terminal in the future.
There has been an outdoor warehouse at the port of Kavkaz, designed for storage of 3,000 vehicles, but currently it is empty due to insufficient depths of the port, not allowing larger ferries to enter the harbor.
As the Russian Transport Lines’ marketing director Elena Zhadanova commented in an interview with PortNews the project perspectives if dredging makes the harbor waters 8-meter deep, as claimed, then the new terminal will be more than needed and will be able to attract Ro-ro cargo flows from Ukraine.
“Trucks is probably the cargo, the operator of the projected terminal can work with. However, the terminal will be needed for other nomenclature of Ro-Ro cargoes. In addition, we can assume that due to the outdated fleet of commercial vehicles in Russia will may see in the coming years the increase of this equipment supply," says Elena Zhadanova.
As the Ukrainian shipping company Ukrferry (specializes in the ferry service along the Black Sea) said in an interview with PortNews, the project might promising for Russia. However, there is an alternative to the Russian project - the Ukrainian port of Kerch, which is located near the port of Kavkaz. "The Interest of Ukrainian shipping companies for this project will depend on the outcome of the dialogue between the two countries, but for now Russia has taken unilateral decisions," Ukrferry authorities said.
We note in this connection that the Russian company Anship is the leader of ferry traffic on the Black Sea with its 1.7 million tons in 2009, while Ukrferry carried 800,000 tons of cargo, versus 600,000 tons transported by the Turkish companies last year.
The first Russian ferry started operating on the Kavkaz-Poti line back in 2007, taking transit flows of Ukrferry from Ilyichevsk-Poti service line.
Vitaly Chernov.