Excessive fees hamper development of Big Port St. Petersburg, Rosgranitsa says
The main obstacle that prevents the development of Big Port of St. Petersburg is not the new technological scheme, but the non-competitive fees and rail tariffs, an official of Rosgranitsa said.
Deputy director of the regional Russian Border Services Agency (Rosgranitsa) Konstantin Kalnins told the 4th International Conference "Transport and Transit Potential" that after a new procedure of ships inspection was introduced, the agency revealed that the terminals’ throughput is much below its capacities, while over 25 percent of Russian inbound/outbound cargoes are still handled at the ports of the Baltic States and Finland.
"And here is the question: this is not the issue of border and customs control operations, but the non-competitive port charges for loading / unloading operations and railroad tariffs," Mr. Kalnins said.
In his opinion, to attract additional volumes of cargo the operators should establish competitive rates for stevedoring services, implement the schemes to reduce transit time of processing at the port foreign trade cargoes.
"This alone will help cut down traders' expenses in the port and attract additional volumes," he said.
Port of St. Petersburg is located on the islands of the delta of the Neva river, in the Neva Bay, the eastern tip of the Gulf of Finland. The Big Port St. Petersburg territory includes the Neva River delta and the Neva Bay, Kronstadt and dam structures. Port of St. Petersburg operates a fleet of diesel-powered icebreakers escorting cargo ships during winter navigation. There are 30 stevedore companies operating at the port. In 2010, the port handled 9,227 vessels and 58,480,600 tons of cargo, a year-over-year 15.2-percent increase.