The government of Saint-Petersburg and the Transport Ministry of Russian Federation approved the borders of the “Greater port of Saint-Petersburg”. In accordance with the adopted resolution port will include the cargo area Bronka and areas on the Kotlin island. At the same time there won’t be cargo terminals in the Gorskaya area. Besides it was resolved to cease the handling operations on the Island within this year. At the moment the annual turnover of the Vasilievskiy Island amounts to 1 mln. tons of cargoes. The Decree of the Government of Russian Federation regulating the borders of the port should be ready within the three months.
By the order of the government of Russian Federation of September 25th, 2006, the title “The Greater Port of Saint-Petersburg” was given to the sea port comprising the complex of the port facilities located on the specially allotted territories and water areas in the Nevsky bay of the Finnish Gulf and in the Neva delta, excluding the facilities of the sea passenger terminal on the Vasilievskiy island. The territory of the port- 269 h, the turnover amounted to 59,6 mln. tons in 2007.
In 2006 after the complex of the facilities received the official title “the Greater port of Saint-Petersburg” the issue regarding the borders was expected to be solved within several months. However it turned out that two years were necessary to solve this issue. The government of Saint-Petersburg and Transport Ministry managed to reach a consensus with regard to the border issue of the Greater Port of Saint-Petersburg only last Friday during the joint meeting of the council of Federal Marine and River Transport Agency and Marine council under the city government. In particular the participants of the meeting managed to solve vexed issues regarding the three areas of Bronka- Lomonosov, Gorskaya and Vasilievskiy Island.
The project of creation of the sea cargo area Bronka wasn’t included in Federal Target Program “The Development of the Transport System of Russia (2010-2015 гг.)”. In the meantime Saint-Petersburg authorities consider it necessary to arrange the port capacities there, because it is impossible to continue the development of the port in the centre of the city. At the same time Smolniy opposes the construction of the terminals in Gorskaya area, where it is planned to arrange a commercial area in accordance with the General Layout of Saint-Petersburg. Concurrently the city authorities intend to cease the port activities in the central part of Saint-Petersburg on the Vasilievskiy Island, the annual turnover of which amounts to 1 mln tons of cargoes. The Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Transit Policy of the Administration of Saint-Petersburg Nikolay Asaul noted that the stevedoring activities on the island are carried out by three companies located on the territory of the Baltic plant and Vasilievskiy cargo area. At the same time the head of the Committee reported that he had met with the owners of these companies and lessees of the land plots, who assured that they did not intend to perform stevedoring activities in this area. For example “РБК daily” already informed that Saint-Petersburg river port located on Vasilievsliy Island had been recently purchased by the company “Baltic Monolit” which plans to construct business centre on its territory.
Minister of Transport Igor Levitin, who after the meeting informed the journalists that the decision on the borders of the port was adopted, believes that the decree of the government regulating the borders of the Greater port of Saint-Petersburg will be passed within 3 months. During this period of time the authorities intend to come to an agreement with the owners of the terminals to be removed from Vasilievsliy Island. At the same time Igor Levitin finds it expedient to accommodate yachts berths on the territories of these terminals.
At the moment the berths on the Vasilievskiy Island are used for handling of the main traffic of import fruits and vegetables. According to the president of “Sorus” group Valeriy Linetskiy, the shutdown of the port will force the companies to seek for the other areas. “We won’t suffer big financial losses, but we will have certain organizational difficulties,” - he says.
Andrey Zhukov, Margarita Rakhnova
РБК daily
