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THE
new deep-water port of Bronka on the outskirts
of St Petersburg on the southern bank of
the Gulf of Finland is being built near
the municipality of Lomonossov and it's
set to be the latest partner of Port of
Hamburg, writes Jake Frith.
The
first stage of construction of the new multi-functional
port will commence operations in September,
Mr Frith writes in the Maritime Journal
of Hampshire, England. The multi-functional
handling facility comprises terminals for
handling containers and ro/ro cargo, along
with a logistics centre for packing and
warehousing services.
Covering
a total of 107 hectares, the container terminal
offers five berths on quays extending for
1,176 metres. With a quay length of 630
metres sufficient to permit handling of
three vessels simultaneously, the ro/ro
terminal covers 57 hectares. On completion
of the first stage of construction, annual
handling capacity will total 1.45 million
TEU per year at the container terminal and
260,000 units at the ro/ro terminal.
Some
EUR400 million (US$438.2 million) have so
far been invested in building the new port.
"Bronka is a public-private partnership
project, with an inflow of public funds
in addition to private sector funds.
We
are not concentrating solely on handling
seaborne containerised and ro/ro cargo,
but also see excellent opportunities for
development in establishing logistics services
that generate added value in the purpose-built
logistics zone located close to the Port
of St Petersburg.
With
its very good open sea access, rapid and
efficient handling of imports and exports,
and its high-performance hinterland road
and rail links, Bronka will produce significant
relief for St Petersburg as Russia's largest
Baltic port.
"Even
against the background of the current trade
sanctions, with completion of the first
stage of its construction Bronka is starting
up at the right moment. The new port will
develop in stages over the next few years.
With a total of 207 hectares of building
land, it offers optimal conditions for growth
in Russia's seaborne cargo handling,"
said Dmitry Mikhaltschenko, managing director
of the Port of Bronka.
With
water depth of 14.4 metres at the first
stage of construction, the Port of Bronka
will be handling postpanamax vessels that
will also be able to reach the port safely
in the winter months via the recently constructed
canal linking it to the sea. Availability
of adequate icebreaker capacity for keeping
access to St Petersburg open for shipping
will also be of importance here. It is planned
that the multi-functional Bronka handling
facility should enter service in mid-September.
Dmitry
Mikhaltschenko and Alexei Shukletsov, the
Port of Bronka's two joint managing directors,
see Bronka as having excellent development
prospects. It lies at the gates of St Petersburg
and is very easily accessible by sea, while
also being optimally linked with its Russian
hinterland by direct high-performance road
and rail links.
Hamburg
is today already of great significance for
Russia's seaborne foreign trade and closely
connected with the Baltic region via the
Kiel Canal. "Membership of Port of
Hamburg Marketing opens up superb opportunities
for us of building up contacts with shipping,
transport and logistics companies and importers
and exporters in trade and industry. We
look forward to our cooperation and joint
events with Port of Hamburg Marketing,"
said Mr Mikhaltschenko.
Hamburg
reported total throughput of 12.5 million
tons in seaborne cargo traffic with Russian
ports in 2014. In the same year, altogether
662,000 TEU were handled between Hamburg
and ports in Russia. Even today, 14 feedership
companies offer 20 liner services for container
transport between Hamburg and the Russian
ports of St Petersburg, Ust-Luga, Kronshtadt,
Kaliningrad and Arkhangelsk.
"We
are delighted that with the Port of Bronka,
we have been able to gain a new Baltic seaport
as a member. Against the background of Russia's
significance for the Port of Hamburg's seaborne
foreign trade, we see points in common for
marketing activities. Both sides will profit
there from targeted networking at events
and trade fair showcasing in markets that
are important for both port and logistics
centres," said Ingo Egloff, CEO of
Port of Hamburg Marketing.
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