VostokUgol Management Company (VostokCoal) is looking into construction of its own fleet for exports of coal produced by the company in the Arctic, on the Taimyr peninsula, Vadim Bugayev, Director General of Arctic Mining Company (run by VostokCoal which is implementing a comprehensive development project for the Taimyr Coal Basin), told IAA PortNews at the IV International Arctic Forum ‘Arctic – Territory of Dialogue’ (29-30 March 2017, Arkhangelsk).
In 2017, VostokCoal will put into operation the Chaika coal terminal intended for exports of high quality coal (anthracite) from Taimyr.
“We will cover the entire potential of our cargo transportation”, emphasized Vadim Bugayev.
According to him, the company will need about 15 Panamax ships with deadweight of up to 75,000 t and ice class of Arc4 or Arc5 by 2022. Those vessels will require round-the-year support of icebreakers.
This year, VostokCoal is going to find partners under the project and to select a designer and shipyards.
“In the first phase we would like to lay down 5-6 vessels simultaneously”, explained Director General of Arctic Mining Company.
Vadim Bugayev says such vessels cost between $25 mln and $45 mln each in the global market. The construction from designing to sea trials may take about 2 years if the vessels are built at Korean shipyards.
Nordic Bulk Carriers (Denmark) and FSUE Atomflot (Russia) are considered among the possible partners under the project.
“According to the estimations, our own investments will make about 10-15-20%. The rest will be covered by resources raised through this or that procedure,” explained the head of AMC.
In the future, VostokCoal will either manage the new fleet on its own or transfer the management to another company.
VostokCoal (VostokUgol Management Company) develops initiatives in the coal and anthracite production within the Russian Federation. This means production of best power-plant coal in the Kemerovo Region and antracite in the Novosibirsk Region. All the company’s facilities have been launched from scratch. Operation in the Arctic zone of Russia is the strategic activities of VostokCoal. The company is implementing the project on development of the Taimyr Coal Basin including the development of deposits and the construction of port Chaika with annual capacity of over 10 mln t of coal.