Currently, the three container terminals in Tanjung Priok handled on average 9 to 10 containers an hour, while ships wait around 4 days to load or unload container. With the new equipment it is anticipated that productivity will be doubled or even trebled – cutting ships waiting time by at least 60%. In 2010, Tanjung Priok handled around 4.61 million TEU – a 21.31% compared to 2009 when it handled 3.8 million TEU.

Other investments include the expansion of the container stacking yard and the re-enforcement of six piers.

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.

To reduce costs, the port decided to go for maintenance dredging for three consecutive years and received a competitive quote from DCI.

The work was awarded to Mercator for the removal of four million cubic meter for an amount of Rs 60.80 crore. As against the original estimate of quantity to be dredged at two million cubic meter, the Tender Committee has brought out that they expect an additional siltation of 1.5 million on account of the monsoon in the ICTT berth basin.

The capital dredging contract initially stipulated completion of the work by January 31, 2010. The required depth could not be achieved in the ICTT berth basin even though the contractor had been given several extensions up to March 31, 2011. The terminal operator had also informed the port that large ships could not be brought to the terminal due to lack of draught in the ICTT berth basin. The port spends heavily on annual maintenance dredging, which is a drag on its resources. The figures show that the port had spent Rs 29.21 crore for maintenance dredging in 2000, which had gone up to Rs 75.08 crore last fiscal. Earlier an estimated 11 million cubic metres of silt used to be removed every year. This is expected to touch 70 million cubic metres shortly with the commissioning of various projects in the port area.

In April, the port handled a total of 2.4m TEU – up 5.7% from the 2.3m TEU in the same month in 2010. Total cargo handled by the port in April reached 47.2m tonnes – up from 43m tonnes.