Qatar develops its port infrastructure and considers investment opportunities worldwide. Mr. Abdulla Mohamed Al- Khanji, Chief Executive Officer, Mwani Qatar, answers the questions of IAA PortNews.

Experts say Russia’s shipbuilding industry accounts for 3.5% of the country’s GDP and its growth can be facilitated by the entry to foreign markets. There are some successful cases of civil products export from Russia.

Throughput of the Azov Sea ports increased last year but it is going down this year. In his interview with IAA PortNews, Sergey Safonichev, head of Azov Sea Ports Administration, told about the grain market influence on turnover of ports and about challenges which port authorities face in winter.

Introduction of nuclear and hydrogen engines into shipping as well as using electric propulsion are among the key trends of the modern water transport development. They are in the focus of Krylov State Research Center which tells about their developments and vision of the ship propulsion future.

Construction of Zhatai Shipyard is the only project in Yakutia included into the state programme of the Russian Federation “Development of shipbuilding and facilities for offshore fields” being implemented under the aegis of Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade. The hi-tech shipyard will build modern river-going vessels for modernization of the Lena river fleet involved in cargo deliveries to the Arctic areas of Yakutia. In his interview with IAA PortNews, Andrey Tarasenko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), tells about the shipyard construction.

The Suez crisis showed the dependence of the global trade on reliable sea routes. Although the Northern Sea Route cannot become a comprehensive alternative to the Suez Canal, Russia’s Arctic logistics can nevertheless play a key role in export and short-sea traffic. Its development will be facilitated by infrastructure loans and other state support measures.

In his interview with IAA PortNews, Chairman of Nordic Engineering BoD Nikolay Shablikov tells about the company’s promising projects, problems of import substitution in the segment of ship equipment and possible solutions.

In his interview with IAA PortNews, Aleksey Rakhmanov, General Director of United Shipbuilding Corporation, told about the efforts of USC towards import substitution and keeping competitive price parameters as well as about completion of cruise ship Peotr Veliky and delivery of chemical tanker PortNews.

The idea of shifting Big Port St. Petersburg facilities beyond the city has been discussed for decades already. The recent initiative reached the level of RF President. The project is expected to be time, cost and effort, time and cost intensive. Apart from the terminals, the project will probably include the transfer of strategic shipyards. The experts are ambivalent about the idea due to the concerns over lost of jobs and flow of cargo to the Baltics.

Russian infrastructure has been developing rapidly from the beginning of the 21st century. The impressive statistics showing the growth of the domestic ports’ throughput does not reveal the hard work of many people with a variety of specializations including hydrography which ensures close control of dredging works. It was HYDROBALT Ltd. that played a crucial role in the development of Russia’s port industry. This year, the company celebrates its 20th anniversary.