“Rusatom Cargo” is planning a project for a sea terminal in the Murmansk region. This is a transhipment point for sea containers. The first stage of the terminal is scheduled to be commissioned in March 2024, and the second stage in July 2024. The transit terminal is being built between Lavna and Belokamenka on the western side of the Kola Peninsula and is expected to cost 460 million euros.
The container port near Murmansk is a transhipment terminal for cargo along the Northeast Passage. As a counterpart, a container terminal is planned on the east side of the Northeast Passage in the Primosky area, west of Vladivostok. The terminals are purely transit function. Containers are delivered or picked up which are transferred from non-reinforced ships to ice-strengthened ships and transported through the Northeast Passage. In winter months, the voyages are sometimes accompanied by icebreaker escorts through the Northern Sea Route. By ‘bundling’ the cargo, ships can be loaded and unloaded more quickly, which helps the utilisation and speed of the transports.
In addition, “Rusatom Cargo” plans to build its own fleet of container ships with ice class Arc7.
The pilot operation of the project is expected to start in 2024 with an annual turnover of 8 to 10 million tons per year.
The strategic investor of the project is “DP World”. The company is one of the world’s largest port operators and maintains a total of 78 terminals in various countries. About 80 percent of the business is in the container port sector. Negotiations are currently underway to establish a joint venture.
“Rusatom Cargo” is a company of the state enterprise “Rosatom”, established within the framework of its logistics project. “Rusatom Cargo” is a logistics company providing shipping services for Russian nuclear industry projects abroad, organizing and developing international transit shipping via the Northern Transit Corridor (NTC) based on the North Sea route.
Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal
