New port can turn Murmansk into major hub

A new seaport may be built in Murmansk as part of a government initiative to develop the northern city as a key transportation hub, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

Murmansk represents one of the country's most promising transportation hubs because its waters do not freeze in the winter and provide ships with direct access to the ocean, according to the St Petersburg Times.

The government could build "a modern port with a big cargo turnover," Ivanov told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Presidium.

He said the Sea Board, a government body that oversees maritime issues, would meet Saturday to consider an investment plan for Murmansk that includes the construction of a new seaport in Murmansk Bay.

The Sea Board meeting, which Ivanov will chair in the Murmansk region, will also consider how to enforce the government's policies on Arctic development through 2020, he said.

Analysts said Murmansk had a number of advantages as a seaport. "It's very close to Europe, while St Petersburg is already overloaded. Russia needs more deep-water and non-freezing ports accessible to Europe," said Mikhail Ganelin, a transportation analyst with Troika Dialog.

Ivanov declined to provide an investment estimate for the project, but Ganelin said it might run into the billions of dollars. Building additional needed infrastructure would likely increase the costs, Ganelin said.

Separately, Deputy Transportation Minister Viktor Olersky said in St Petersburg that work on the Murmansk transportation hub would only begin after the government issued an order to create a special economic zone in Murmansk, industry newswire PortNews reported. He said the order might be signed as soon as October.

The project will be financed by private investors rather than the federal budget, PortNews said.

Olersky said two major investors – coal mining company Kuzbasrazrezugol and the Sibir business union –- were ready to invest, but "the existing mechanism is hindering this".

A coal terminal that would be part of the transportation hub would have the capacity to transfer more than 20 million tonnes of coal a year, while an oil terminal would have the capacity of 12 to 13 million tonnes a year, Olersky said.

He said the planned container terminal was unlikely to manage the one million transit containers that are anticipated annually.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)