OREANDA-NEWS. September 14, 2010. The Big Port of St. Petersburg is Russia's leading port and handles around 55% of the country's container traffic. In 2009 it was badly hit by the worldwide decline in container volumes, with throughput declining by 32% to 1.34m teu. This reversed the gains achieved in 2008 and saw the Port slide 12 places to 73rd in the World Top Container Ports ranking.

However, in 2010 cargo volumes appeared to be recovering strongly, with total tonnage for Q1 reaching 11.2m tons, 18.2% higher than a year before. In March 2010, the Port handled 4.3m tons of cargo, a 22.1% increase year-on-year. Container throughput for January-April totalled 549,808 teu, up 46.9% year-on-year. For 2010 as a whole, the Port predicts a total of 1,830,000 teu.

Within the Port, containers are handled at a number of terminals, the largest of which are the First Container Terminal (FCT), the largest in the Baltic; Petrolesport (PLP) on Grebenka Island; and Multi-Link Terminals (MLT), which owns the Moby Dick terminal at Krohnstadt.

FCT is owned by the National Container Company (NCC), whose shares are in turn owned jointly by First Quantum Group and FESCO. In 2009 FCT handled 938,931 teu, accounting for about 70% of the Port's container throughput but representing a 12% decrease year-on-year, wiping out the 12% gain recorded in 2008.

In early 2010, volumes at FCT rebounded, with a total of 454,792 teu recorded for January-May, up 31.4% compared with the same period in 2009. In May 2010 the terminal handled 72 vessels and its throughput totalled 102,072 teu (exports 49,674 teu, imports 52,398 teu) - a 32.9% increase year-on-year. Reefer volumes amounted to 11,941 teu.

FCT predicts a total of 1.25m teu for 2010. which will exceed its designed capacity of 1.2m teu. To cope with future increases in volumes, NCC has approved an expansion plan to provide a new berth of 240 m (increasing the terminal's total berth length to 775 m) and an expansion of the existing yard space, at a cost of US\\$180m.

its move away from straddle carriers to an RTG operation, and in 2008 acquired four RTGs and a further two quay cranes.

NCC has developed a 200,000 teu off-dock logistics terminal in Shushary (St. Petersburg), which opened at the end of 2008. It is hoped that this will relieve some of the pressure on FCT; the Russian customs authorities have agreed that inspections can be carried out here rather than at the Port.

A number of new terminal infrastructure projects came on stream in 2008, coupled with a growing fleet of container-handling equipment. In 2009 the Port spent over RUB 2.1 bn on infrastructure development, twice as much as the year before. This included RUB500m to complete a ro-ro terminal with aim ton capacity, to be run by First Stevedoring Company, and RUB 67m on environmental projects.

Source:  Container Management, World top Container Ports, August 2010.