As part of environmental programme of Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg JSC (SP SPb, a company of UCL Holding), a specialized vacuum cleaning machine with water system of dust suppression was put into operation in July 2019, the company says in a press release. That equipment is intended for cleaning of berths involved in handling of loose cargo.
The machine is equipped with two cleaning systems. Special brushes with water sprayer and suction units are applied for cleaning of even surfaces: storage yards and berths. For cleaning of hard-to-reach places there is a 5-meter long hose sucking sweepings into a dedicated reservoir. Watering is supposed to minimize dust production.
The process is controlled from the cabin. An operator can regulate water spraying, brushes contact with the surface and their rotation speed, launch and stop the machine. The visual inspection system turns on the monitor and the rear-view camera to ensure high quality of cleaning as well as indicators and sound signalling to ensure work safety.
“To protect the atmosphere during transshipment of loose cargo, we apply the berth spraying system, apart from the new equipment. If necessary, we can use a mobile dust suppression unit creating a protective water cloud in any sector of transshipment with a 70-meter radius. A special canvas cover is placed between a ship and a berth to protect water bodies in the course of transshipment”, Dmitry Shelkunov, head of the company’s Industry Ecology Department, describes transshipment of loose cargo.
“In August the port will put into operation one more dust suppression system that can be placed above the holds in the area of unloading. By the end of the year, we expect the delivery of new environmentally safe bunker with an inbuilt dust suppression system”, Kirill Yakimenko, Technical Director of the company shares its plans.
Apart from the long-term programme on the purchase of mobile ecological equipment which has been under implementation from 2017, SP SPb environmental activities include renovation of fixed ecological facilities and monitoring of water and air quality.
Last year, investments in modernization of the port’s water protection facilities surged by 50% to RUB 21.6 million. Specific discharge volume per tonne of handled cargo decreased by 24%, total volume — by 15%. Expenses for air quality control tripled to RUB 224,000. That let increase the frequency of measuring air samples taken at the border of the sanitary protection zone 1.5 times. In 2018, the company decreased specific emissions per tonne of handled cargo by 4%.
For air quality monitoring, the port attracts government-accredited ecological laboratories. Besides, it is under control of regulatory and supervisory bodies including the Federal Service on Surveillance in the Sphere of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor). The adjacent territory is under independent monitoring by the Federal Budget Healthcare Institution “Sanitary and Epidemiological Center in Saint-Petersburg”.
As of today, all the research findings supported by documents confirm that the content of pollutants in the air of adjacent territories is far below the limits and does not exceed the average level in the city.
Moreover, in 2018, the company decreased the environmental footprint in terms of all key ecological parameters with allocations for implementation of environmental activities having exceeded RUB 44.5 million, three times as much as in 2017.
Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg JSC (a company of UCL Port – stevedoring division of the International Transportation Group UCL Holding) is the largest operator, rendering services on handling of all types of dry cargoes at Big Port St. Petersburg. It operates modern multipurpose specialized terminals for handling of general and bulk cargoes and specialized terminals for ro-ro cargoes and containers. In 2018, the company handled 7.7 million tonnes of cargo.