OREANDA-NEWS. October 6, 2008. The official date of FCT’s foundation is considered to be the 6th October 1998, when the terminal spun off the Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg group handled its first vessel - containership Monica Ehler of ESF Euroservices with capacity of 700 TEU. The years of hard work, stable cargo traffic attraction, improvement, new technologies and logistic methods implementation followed this. But FCT always met its name and was the “First” in everything.

In 2002 FCT became a part of the National Container Company group which helped to develop and start realizing its long-term investment program. In the following 5 years FCT increased the volumes of container handling and celebrated 500-thousandth container from the beginning of the year in December 2004. And in December 2008 FCT expects its millionth container at the year-end.

For 10 years FCT handled 5.9 M TEU, and all the Russian ports for the same time – 17M TEU, i.e. the terminal handled 35% of the national container traffic (including expected results of 2008). Altogether \\$230М was invested in FCT’s development for these years.

Today FCT remains the largest container terminal of St.Petersburg sea port and the leader of container handling among the terminals in Russia and the Baltics. FCT’s Investment Program envisages the growth of the terminal's throughput capacity up to 1.6M by 2012.

The significant result of FCT’s development was achieved in a greater part due to the state-of-the-art technologies implemented at terminal’s operation. First of all, this is:
terminal’s IT system, which allows to computerize all business processes in operational and financial activity and maintain paper-free document flow;
service centre, where all the functions of cargo paperwork and the offices of state control agencies will be localized;
time-slot system, which allows to plan transport ingress to the terminal and eliminate a long queue of container trucks at the terminal’s entrance;
remote access technology, by means of which all links of the supply chain (shipping lines agents, forwarding companies, cargo owners) gain on-line information about container handling and transport visit to the terminal via the Internet.

The important steps of terminal’s technical upgrading are regular equipment purchase and modernization. In 1998 containers at the terminal were handled by 4 STS cranes, 4 RMG and 15 straddle carriers (RTG technology was not implemented). By 2011, after storage area expansion and construction of a new berth 240 m long, FCT will have five berths with overall length of 1020 m and depth of 11,5 m, equipped with 9 STS cranes and 1 mobile crane. In addition to the present yard equipment (3 RMGs, 2 RTGs and 35 straddle carriers), 8 RTG cranes Konecranes, 14 terminal trucks Kalmar of the latest modification “icon” and semitrailers for them will be put into operation.

World leading shipping lines call at FCT on a regular weekly basis: Maersk Line, MSC, CMA CGM, OOCL, FESCO ESF, Unifeeder, Team Lines, Swan Container Line, the first three of them are the world leaders of container shipping. Availability of an extensive common feeder network linking FCT with major European ports of transshipment allows for presence of other deep sea carriers that do not have their own feeder connection with St. Petersburg.

Over the last ten years container business in Russia as a whole had made a significant progress. Today the other terminals of St.Petersburg are growing. But FCT, constantly improving, was and remains among the state-of-the-art terminals of Russia by technological development and client service quality.