Deadline for completion of Muuga container terminal (Port of Tallinn) to be extended
The supervisory board of Port of Tallinn found it necessary to extend the deadline for completion of Muuga container terminal, Port of Tallinn press release says.
“The developer of the terminal has submitted the application for extending the deadline for completion by 12 months until July of 2014,” says Mr. Neinar Seli, the chairman of the supervisory board of Port of Tallinn, regarding the granted authority to change the building rights contract.
According to the representative of Rail Garant Estonia OÜ, attorney-at-law Mr. Jüri Raidla, the intention to extend the period of construction is explained by numerous litigations that hindered the development process and made it significantly harder to involve both investors and strategic partners.
The supervisory board of Port of Tallinn has agreed with amending the building rights contract and extending the deadline for completion due to the fact that the legal dispute that hinders the development project should stop if Transiidikeskuse AS purchases Rail Garant Estonia OÜ and starts to implement the restructuring plan for Muuga container terminal prepared by Rail Garant Estonia OÜ, AS Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) and Transiidikeskuse AS.
According to the chairman of the supervisory board, the determining factor for acceptance of changing conditions of the contract was the fact that the offer of Rail Garant Estonia OÜ provides the solution for the legal stalemate resulting from the two years of disputes. “The goal of Port of Tallinn is to preserve its competitive ability on the rapidly developing market for container transportation. The offered solution allows keeping all of the building rights conditions offered by Rail Garant Estonia OÜ,” explains Seli.
Restructuring plan for the container business also provides for purchase of the owner of the building right Rail Garant Estonia OÜ by Transiidikeskuse AS. The company will be able to continue acting as the terminal operator after completion of the new terminal in the port of Muuga. Rail Garant Group, one of the biggest logistics companies in Russia, will continue delivering containers through Muuga terminal.
According the chairman of the management board of Port of Tallinn Mr. Ain Kaljurand, restructuring of the container business of the port of Muuga creates a realistic perspective for developing the new container terminal upon conditions of the offer made by Rail Garant Estonia OÜ. “As of now Rail Garant Estonia has fulfilled all of its contractual obligations before Port of Tallinn – including paying for the building rights. Our long and fruitful cooperation with Transiidikeskuse AS also instills confidence that we will be able to quickly move forward,” says Kaljurand.
The chairman of the management board of Transiidikeskuse AS Mr. Erik Laidvee says that the company is in the process of negotiations regarding purchase of Rail Garant Estonia OÜ. “The decision of the supervisory board of Port of Tallinn allows reaching the agreement in the near future,” says Laidvee. “We wish to focus on providing terminal services and Rail Garant Group will be one of our customers”.
According to Mr. Pavel Makarov, member of the board of Rail Garant Estonia OÜ, Rail Garant plans to reach an agreement with Transiidikeskuse AS on the subject of servicing the flow of goods in Muuga terminal. “We are nearing the mutually beneficial solution that will strengthen the position of the port of Muuga on the container transportation market of the Baltic Sea, thus contributing to development of competitiveness of the entire Estonian transit sector,” says Pavel Makarov.
In 2011 with financial support of the European Union Port of Tallinn has built the new container terminal infrastructure worth 54 million euros. The development project of the new Muuga container terminal opens an opportunity to double the turnover of containers moving through the port (up to half a million TEU per year).
Transiidikeskuse AS is a specialized container and general goods terminal operator in the port of Muuga. In 2012 the volume of containers that went through Muuga container terminal of Transiidikeskuse AS has reached the total of 224 721 TEU.
Rail Garant is one of the largest Russian transport holdings, which includes 11 railway and container transportation carriers and forwarding agents. The main types of the goods transported by the companies of the holding are mining and smelting goods, liquid bulk, refined petroleum products, liquefied gas and other types of the cargo of industrial purposes, such as large diameter pipes, cars, mineral fertilizers, and grain.