Vostochny Port JSC, Russia’s largest dedicated coal port (run by Port Management Company, PMC LLC) says it fulfilled the plan for January-December 2017 having handled 23.2 mln t of premium quality coal.
In the reporting period Vostochny Port handled more than 317,000 open top rail cars including 195,000 innovative cars with increased capacity (62% of the rolling stock).
The port loaded 539 vessels including 191 Panamax ships (35%) and 46 Capesize ships (8%), twice as much as in 2016. The 289 m long Star Pauline was the largest vessel handled at the berths of Vostochny Port. The 180,000 DWT vessel was loaded with 149,100 tonnes of premium-quality coal exported to South Korea.
In October the company achieved yet another record with average daily handling of 67,000 t. On October 16, Vostochny Port loaded 83,800 t of coal onto the bulk carrier FPMC B108 bound for Taiwan. It took 30 hours to load the ship.
In November, Vostochny Port said that it shipped 400 mln t of coal from the date of its foundation.
The milestone tonne was loaded onto the MBA GIOVANNI.
In 2017, coal exported from Vostochny Port was delivered to 13 countries of the Asia-Pacific Region. S. Korea remained the leader with 29% of throughput (more than 6.6 mln t). It is followed by Japan — 26% (6 mln t), Taiwan - 16% (3.6 mln t) and China - 6% (1.2 mln t).
In January 2017, as part of modernization programme, the company replaced one of four ship loading conveyors (SLC) with an innovative SLC ensuring environmental safety of coal transshipment.
In February, Vostochny Port put into operation its new wind protection system. The shelter, which is 600 meters long can simultaneously accommodate more than 60 wagons with coal. The new wind protection system shelters one of the sections where open wagons with coal are moving across the terminal. The shelter helps prevent freezing and blowing out of coal in the period of strong winds in Primorye.
In July, the company completed modernization of its water treatment facilities. New water treatment facilities of Vostochny Port let improve the quality of technical waters 2.5 times.
In the run up to the winter season, fast-moving doors were assembled at the entrance of the dumper building to maintain the desired room temperatures and prevent dusting. Protection coating was renewed for the wind shields. The Coal Handling Complex has replaced 3.3 km of conveyor belts under the major repairs program to provide effective operations of the conveyors in winter season.
Regular environmental monitoring was performed at the port by specialists of the port holding.
In 2017, Vostochny Port completed dredging works at the cargo berth No 51 (Phase 3 of the coal terminal). It can now accommodate bulk cargo carriers with deadweight of up to 180,000 t.
Special equipment was delivered and assembled under Vostochny Port’s Phase 3 project.
In December 2017, Vostochny Port held a ceremonial launching of the new substation “Ugolnaya-2” intended for powering Phase 3 of the coal terminal.
Throughout the year Vostochny Port took part in key industry-focused events, both in Russia in other countries. The company welcomed delegations with representatives of businesses and authorities.
In September 2017, the port was visited by RF Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Deputy Transport Minister – head of Rosmorrechflot Victor Olersky, Russian Railways President Oleg Belozerov and IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim.
The delegation of Mongolia headed by Khaltmaagiyn Battulga, the President of the country, visited Vostochny Port while on an official visit to Russia.
During the 3rd Eastern Economic Forum Vostochny Port presented its Phase 3 project and signed a number of agreements including a trilateral memorandum of understanding for the arrangement of specialized equipment assembly for Phase 3 and commissioning works. The parties (Port Management Company, Vostochny Port and Marubeni Corporation) agreed on the joint implementation of advanced technologies in the sphere of operational environmental safety in pursuance of previously made contracts.
Phase 3 project was also presented at Transport Week 2017 held in Moscow in December.
The year of 2017 saw the extension of Vostochny Port’s collective labor contract for three years till 2020. The new document does not only retain all the strong points of the previous contract but also expands social guarantees for the company employees.
Vostochny Port JSC (Primorsky Territory) is Russia’s largest publicly available terminal equipped with wagon dumpers, conveyor systems, ship loading equipment and a unique multilevel system of magnetic separation. The terminal exports coal produced by different coal companies of Russia. In 2017 the port handled 23,2 mln t of coal, one fifth of all coal exports via Russian seaports and about 30% of coal transshipment via the ports of Russia’s Far East Basin.
Vostochny Port is a port of open access, available for all coal producers. Among the key targets of the port is to build up its throughput with improvement of offered services: uninterrupted supply and shipment of cargo to the most efficient types of ships and development of new supply routes.