Russia to build €2bn deep-sea port

Representatives from FSUE Rosmorport and Primorsky Universal Transshipment Complex LLC at the Transport Week 2021 Forum in Moscow.

A new RUB170 billion (€2 billion) transhippment seaport is to be built on Russia’s west coast, on the Baltic Sea.

Said to be the first deep-water complex in the region, the development of the “Primorksy UPK” facility will enable Russian to increase the amount of foreign trade cargo it exports. 

Construction of the port, located north of St. Petersberg in the coastal town of Primorsk, will be carried out by Primorsky Universal Transshipment Complex.

The company signed the deal for the seaport with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) Rosmorport just last week, at the Transport Week 2021 Forum in Moscow.

Spanning an area of around 760 hectares, the transshipment complex will have port facilities that can accommodate cargo vessels with a capacity of up to 150,000 tonnes and contrainer ships with up to 200,000 tonnes of capacity.

This, along with digitalised processing and management systems for loading, storage and transshipment, will allow large amounts of Russia-produced goods to arrive at the port by train and be processed quickly and efficiently.

“All bulk cargoes we will work with — coal, mineral fertilizers and grain — will be processed in a closed way. From the approach of the railway wagon to the unloading station,” said Anatoly Savkin, First Deputy General Director of the Primorsky universal transshipment complex

“The station is closed. Then it goes to the inner galleries to the warehouse. And then it will go through the closed gallery to the ship. Noise and dusting are eliminated. Environmental monitoring will be mandatory.”

At its peak operation Primorsky UPK will be able to handle around 65 million tonnes of cargo a year.

“This is more than 20 % of the total cargo turnover of the Russian seaports in the Baltic basin”, said FSUE Rosmorport.

New high-speed rail infrastructure and a 43km-long four-lane highway - with a junction to the “Scandinavia” federal highway, will also be built to accommodate the transshipment complex’s activities.

As part of its agreement with FSUE Rosmorport, project developer Primorsky Universal will also fund  a number of new facilities , the ownership of which will be transfered to Russia’s Federal Treasury upon completion.

The company is also planning to build a new North-Eastern rail line to bypass St. Petersberg, and to rebuild the existing Vyborg-Matrosovo-Primorsk-Ermilovo railway line

While plans for these are yet to be agreed to by Russian Railways JSC, the completion of the transshipment complex is expected to create around 6,000 new jobs at the port’s terminals.

Rosmorport said, “To ensure comfortable conditions for the employees of the seaport, a new residential area with a capacity of up to 12 thousand people is being designed at an area of about 200 hectares in the town of Primorsk.

“The residential area will include a residential, social, public and business, engineering and transport infrastructure. A recreational zone will be a feature of the residential area: a park with an area of about 100 hectares will be built along the coast, and the coastal line itself will be improved.”

Although the Primorsky UPK transshipment complex is currently scheduled to be completed by December 2024, this will be followed by a trial period.

“In 2025, a trial operation of terminals will be carried out, logistics will be built up by shippers, and an increase in cargo turnover on a step-by-step basis will be carried out,” said Rosmorport.

“At present, design work has already been completed and state expert examinations have been passed. A construction stage of the preparatory period has reached its closing phase.”