UCL Holding signed Sister-port Agreement between OJSC “Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg” and the port of Guangzhou (China)
Top managers of the company “T.A. Management” of international transport group Universal Cargo Logistics Holding headed by the General director of the Managing company Igor Fyodorov paid a working visit to the Chinese seaports of Guangzhou and Hong Kong. According to PR Department of UCL Holding, the purpose of the visit was acquaintance with technologies and managerial experience of the leading world terminals handling containers, as well as bulk and general cargoes.
In the course of the visit, during the meeting with Guangzhou port’s administration on November 12 the parties signed Sister-port Agreement between the OJSC “Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg” and the port of Guangzhou (China).
The proposal to establish Sister-port status between the companies was initiated by the Chinese party within the framework of realization of the long-term Chinese initiative “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” with regard to Russia as one of China’s strategic partners.
Sister-port relations envisage a wide range of cooperation in various fields including logistics, services, port culture. Main efforts will be aimed at creating favourable conditions for business development, working out of a mechanism enabling the parties to exchange information on ports development, upgrading information technologies in the ports.
Besides, stevedores of UCL Port group and the seaport of Guangzhou plan to organize training courses for management and technical specialists and to launch exchange programmes. Stevedores of Russia and China exchange information in mutual fields of their professional activity such as loading mechanizms and cargo equipment, including maintenance and repairs procedures, electrical equipment, labour safety, electronic data, application of new technologies.
The initiative “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” is part of the new economic development strategy of China “One Belt – One Road” aimed at creation of infrastructure and establishing links with neighbouring countries where Chinese investors are planning to implement new production facilities and technologies. On the new Silk Road and in the framework of “One Belt – One Road” strategy Russia was rated as one of 10 priority directions of Chinese investments as of year-end 2014, ranking 6th by the amount of invited Chinese investments.
Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCL Holding) – international transport group of companies carrying out transportation of cargoes by rail and waterways, their handling in the Russian ports, and rendering services in logistics, ship-building and cruise passenger transportation. The companies of the holding comprise three divisions by the main types of activities – rail UCL Rail, stevedoring UCL Port and shipping VBTH.
OJSC “Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg” (part of stevedoring division of UCL Holding) – the largest operator handling all types of dry cargoes in the Greater port of Saint-Petersburg. In 2014 the company’s cargo turnover amounted to 8.1 mln tons.
Sea Port of Guangzhou – the second port of China by its cargo turnover and one of the largest ports in the world. The port’s turnover is over 500 mln tons, including 15 mln TEUs of containers. The port’s main cargoes are containers, oil products, coal, grain, chemical fertilizers, steel, iron ore and automobiles.
Sea Port of Hong Kong is one of the largest cargo ports in the world (a top ten largest port of Asia) and the fourth largest container port of the world. The port handles nearly 280 mln tons of cargoes and 22 mln TEUs per year. The main cargoes are containers, bulk oil and general cargoes.
