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Big Port of St. Petersburg:
development problems

Russia:
In June 2005, the Legal Assembly of St. Petersburg decreed that the sea port in St. Petersburg would be named “the Big Port of St. Petersburg”. It also addressed the Government of the Russian Federation with a request to confirm the naming of the geographic entity by issuing a corresponding decree.

Today, the Big Port of St. Petersburg is a conglomerate of businesses engaged in port activities on the berths and quays located in the mouth of the River Neva. Under the Soviet rule, there was only one provider of stevedoring services – the Leningrad Sea Port, which was an integral part of the Baltic Shipping Company, whereas at present there are 28 companies handling cargo on the territory of the St. Petersburg port. What is known as Sea Port St. Petersburg is a group of companies incorporating four stevedores (First Stevedoring Co, Second Stevedoring Co, Fourth Stevedoring Co and Timber Stevedoring Co) mostly handling general cargo.

“Silver Lakes” (built 1986) from Switzerland, loading at the dry cargo quay
of Big Port St. Petersburg.

Illegal business?
The largest operators outside the Sea Port St. Petersburg group are the Petersburg Oil Terminal (specializing in light and dark oil products), the First Container Terminal (containers), Petrolesport (containers, metals, timber, frozen foods and ro-ro) and the Baltic Bulker Terminal (mineral fertilizers).
The most important current problem of the Big Port is that it does not have the status of a legal entity. It has no official name (some documents call it Petrograd, some – Leningrad), its boundaries are not officially defined, and moreover it is not officially open for foreign ships to call (it is the Leningrad port that is open, not St. Petersburg). All this considered, it turns out that formally, St. Petersburg port operators are doing their business illegally.

To resolve the numerous contradictions, the St. Petersburg City Administration has undertaken to develop the documents needed to close the legal gap. These are the draft governmental decrees: “On naming the Big Port of St. Petersburg”, “On the Big Port of St. Petersburg”, “On the boundaries of the Big Port of St. Petersburg” and “On establishing a cargo and passenger border crossing in the Big Port of St. Petersburg”.

Income goes to federal budget
The City Administration is in general interested in expanding its legal and economic influence in the port. Unlike many other European port cities, St. Petersburg does not benefit from the large volumes handled by the port: in accordance with the recently adopted Budget Code, the lion’s share of the tax income goes to the federal budget.

The Transport and Transit Committee under the City Administration insists that it would only be fair if part of the port dues collected in St. Petersburg remained in the city. Even more so, taking into account that the city provides the port operators and their customers with such services as water and electricity supply, canalization, public transport and medical institutions, which require considerable sums from the city budget. Besides, the city builds, repairs and maintains the main roads by which cargo is transported to and from the port.

	Wagenborg Shipping’s “Elwin” (built 1992), loading at the First Stevedoring Company quay.

Expand definition of dues
However, the port dues are purpose defined, so by law, they can only be used for the purposes they are designed for, e.g., the channel due is designated for maintaining, repairing and renovating the channels, the berthing due – for maintaining berths, the pilotage due – for the upkeep of the pilotage service, etc. The proposal is to expand the definition of the port dues so they could be used for maintaining the necessary city infrastructure.

Another important problem for the port is the fairways and channels to the terminals. The capacities of the existing fairways have reached their limit. The ships now calling at the First Container Terminal, the Baltic Bulker Terminal and the Petersburg Oil Terminal, as well as large cruise liners, need larger depths, so the fairways need dredging. Widening the entrance channel will allow for two-way traffic, and increasing the quay depth will help increase the port’s passenger and cargo turnover. To optimize the vessel traffic, two navigation passes are planned for construction in the Gulf of Finland at the entrance to St. Petersburg, one for shallow draft vessels (up to 6 meters draft) and the other for larger tonnage ships.

The road and rail access development is no less important for the Big Port. Trucks carry cargo from the port by the city streets. This problem will be solved after the West Semi-Circle of the St. Petersburg Ring Road is operational. It will not only help increase the port’s throughput but will also take the heavy trucks off the city’s roads. The City Government also plans to move rail operations concerning cargoes destined for the port from the station within the city boundaries outside the city. All of these measures require time as well as money. But this is the only way to live in St. Petersburg and let the Big Port of St. Petersburg live.

//Alla Petrova,
Seanews information & consulting