Over the years, St Petersburg has been operating near its maximum handling capacity and is constrained by its location for any further expansion.
National Container Company, the privately-owned Russian terminal operator, which is operating a terminal in St Petersburg [and handled 1.2m TEU in 2010] has teamed up with Germany’s Eurogate, operating terminals in both Hamburg and Bremerhaven to invest in the terminal. The latter is a minority shareholder with a 20% stake.
After completion of the first phase the terminal will feature a 440m long quay with a depth of 13.5m alongside and be able to handle 440,000 TEU a year.
Between 2002 and 2008, container traffic in Russia grew by 23%, although the market collapsed by 42% during the global economic crisis, but is rapidly growing to almost pre-crisis volumes in 2010.
The second phase of construction will increase annual capacity by 1.5 million TEU and would be completed by 2015 with the construction of an additional 500m of quay with an increased depth alongside of 16m to accommodate 6,000 TEU vessels. The third and final phase will provide an extra 2.9 million TEU and the construction of 1.7km of berthing space.