No solution on railway approaches to Primorsk port
Project of railway approaches to the port of Primorsk in Leningrad Region has not come to practical implementation - Victor Stepov, head of Oktyabrskaya Railway, According to PortNews IAA correspondent, Stepov thinks this issue to be considered too slowly, in particular because of Petrotrans-Primorsk company, which had initiated the project having applied to ORW. Petrotrans-Primorsk LLC has developed the project for construction of a terminal for transshipment of oil and oil products at the port of Primorsk within the framework of the program for development of Baltic Pipeline System (BPS). According to the company’s report, railway transportation to amount in 2007 to 3.3 million tons of oil cargo, in 2013 – to 12 million tons of oil cargo. GaspromNeft OJSC and TNK BP Holding are specified as the shippers under the project.
In April 2006 ORW provided the applicant with the Specifications for delivery of the above volumes to the port. Specifications imply reconstruction of Ermilovo station and extension of storage tracks at Verkhnee-Cherkasovo station.
The issue has not come to practical implementation because of those who specify the above volumes, Stepov says. According to him, the application should be sent to the Ministry of Transport, which is to take the decision.
Stepov added as well that a meeting with Ilya Klebanov, plenipotentiary of the RF President, is to be held before the end of autumn 2006. The meeting should be devoted to the issues of railway approaches to the ports of Primorsk, Vysotsk and Vyborg. Stepov does not exclude the possibility that the project may pretend for financing from the Investment Fund of the RF. The application may be filed soon, he says.
We would like to remind that LUKOIL OJSC – owner of sea oil products terminal in Vysotsk – and RZhD OJSC have signed a Declaration of Intent relating to further development of railway approaches to Vysotsk. Today’s railway approaches enable transshipment of 9 million tons of cargo per year while annual design capacity of the port is 12 million tons of oil products.
In 2005, the port's cargo turnover grew by 30.1% against year-on-year result to 52.12 million tons.