Vladimir Bragin, Harbour Master of seaport Azov: “the terminals’ operation is stable and their load is adequate”

Seaport of Azov has been showing stable handling of conventional cargoes being responsive to investors’ plans. Vladimir Bragin, Harbour Master of the port tells IAA PortNews about the current navigation season, development prospects and preparations for ice navigation.

— What is the year-on-year dynamics of cargo throughput and traffic of vessels in the 10-month period of 2015? 

— The port’s throughput excluding transit cargoes totaled 5,408,000 t, down 4.9%, year-on-year. In the reported period transit amounted to 2,784,000 t, down from 5,173,000 t in 2014. In January-October 2015, the Harbour Master’s service registered 3,559 incoming and 3,553 outgoing vessels against 4,285/4,292 vessels a year ago.

The reduction of transit and turnover of vessels was caused by abnormally low level of water t the lower Don. At the same time, the decrease of the cargo throughput excluding transit is not high, the terminals’ operation is stable and their load is adequate.

— What are the port’s major stevedores and major cargoes?

— Promekspeditsija LLC accounts for the bulk of cargoes (2,223,000 t; 41.1%), mostly grain and general cargo. The share of Azov Seaport LLC is 19.1% (1,370,000 t) – grain, coal and general cargo. Azov port elevator handled 485,000 t of grain (9% of the total throughput). Blue Wave handles different cargoes including general cargo, containers and grain - 483,000 t (8.9%).

— How does the situation changed this year? 

— Major cargoes in 2015, just like in 2014, were grain, oil products and coal. Grain transshipment declined by 1.7% to 4,393,000 t, oil products – by 47.1% to 2,755,000 t. On the contrary, coal transshipment increased by 29.7% to 488,000 t.

— The port of Azov was among the first to start handling containers. Uyut has recently announced the construction of a new container complex in Azov. What are the prospects of this sector?

— As of today, containers are handled at the berths of Blue Wave LLC with three calls per month on the average. It is hard to say if it is enough.

Since Uyut LARGE CAPACITY has planned the construction of a container terminal, it must be profitable. The terminal is to have four berths (two be build by two berths in each of the two phases) with annual turnover of 50,000 TEU.

— How many ships can be handled at the port simultaneously? How many anchorage places are there?

— There are 26 berths at the seaport of Azov. In-harbor anchorage is available for 12 dry cargo ships and 7 tankers. 3 to 4 vessels can be accommodated in the quarantine zone. Off-harbour anchorage is available for up to 12 vessels.

— Do vessels have to wait for handling? Are there plans for modernization of berths or construction of additional anchorage places?

— In the 10-month period, Azov-Don Seaway Canal saw 12,600 cargo ships, over 40 ships per day. Sometimes, depending on a season and meteorological conditions, there is a line of ships waiting for mooring. 

Construction of more anchorage places is necessary for the port. However, natural width of the Don river’s navigation channel does not allow for this construction. To create new anchorage paces expansion of the waterway and dredging is needed which requires considerable financing.

— What types of ships are handled in the port? What is the depth of the approach canal and in the port? 

— The port can handle vessels of up to 150 meters long and up to 20 meters wide with a draught of up to 3.7 meters. 

— Who and when performed dredging ? 

— Maintenance of designed depth within the port is the responsibility of Rosmorport’s Azov Branch. 

This year, four dredgers were involved - Kuban-2, Donskoi-405, Moguchy and Kamsky-601. 

Dredging is carried out at five sectors of the port’s maritime area and at three sectors of its river area. As By November 1, 224,280.2 cmb of material was dredged while the scope of works planned for the maritime area – 298,721.1 cbm of material. In the river area – 6,388.2 cbm of material out of the planned 85,601.5 cbm. The speed of dredging largely depends on soil: muddy soil in the maritime area is easier to dredge as compared with the heavy soil of the river. Nevertheless, Azov branch of FSUE Rosmorport is going to complete the works according to the schedule.

— How does surging affect the port’s operation? 

— Surging is one of the factors influencing the operation of port Azov. Experience shows that surging means problems only if the level of water raises by over meters, which happens in spring and autumn periods. In this case, berths are partially flooded. When the level of water drops, vessels placed at in-harbour anchorage can touch the ground. 

Total period of time when the water level in the approach canal is low due to winds can exceed 70 days per year. Meteorological forecasts are taken into consideration for scheduling deep-draught vessels’ movements. 

— One more question on the port service – are vessels provided with bunker fuel at the port? 

— Yes, several bunkering companies operate at the port – Bagira LLC, Donbunker LLC, YugBunkerService-Rostov LLC and Rosmortrans LLC. 

— As winter season is approaching, let’s remember the previous winter navigation. How hard was it? How many vessels entered/left the port? What was the cargo traffic?

— Ice conditions of the previous winter can be characterized as moderate though the winter started unexpectedly and the icebreaker support period and ice navigation restrictions were announced on November 27 instead of scheduled December 1, 2014. Ice navigation restrictions were lifted several times by Harbour Master’s order due to ice melting.

Over the icebreaker support period, throughput of the seaport of Azov totaled 1.577 mln t. Icebreakers performed 147 escort operations: for 79 outgoing and 68 incoming convoys including 390/420 vessels accordingly. 

— What about the preparations for winter navigation period of 2015-2016? What changes of fleet layout and operation schedule are expected? 

— Preparations for winter navigation of 2015-2016 are in full swing. A meeting dedicated to icebreaking period of 2015-2016 in freezing ports of the Russian Federation was held in Moscow on October 29. The layout of the icebreaking fleet will not change. Icebreaker assistance will be provided by Kapitan Demidov , Kapitan Moshkin and Kapitan Chudinov icebreakers. Kapitan Kharchikov is supposed to perform towing operations at the port of Azov. 

Preparations are carried out according to the schedule. The headquarters of icebreaking operations will be set up in the nearest future. Regional meeting for the stakeholders is to be held in Rostov-on-Don on November 18.

The experience of the last winter periods shows that we can work efficiently with what we have. We are ready for winter navigation of 2015-2016 and we are planning smooth operation without any ups and downs. 

Interviewed by Elena Tkacheva.