Professional Articles

Ports & Terminals

Port of Ust Luga - A Modern Coal Terminal at Russia’s National Territory

In the Baltic Sea region Russia increasingly faces competition with other international sea ports. The sea port Ust-Luga, situated 110 km west of St. Petersburg in the Leningrad Oblast is to facilitate Russia’s competitive capability in this region. Therefore, the Russian government generally wants to push the development of Russia’s ports especially that of the newly built Port Ust-Luga. The ambitious aim is that until 2010 85 % of all Russian exports should be conducted via Russia’s own ports. This objective, because of the heavy increasing Russian export, is – by far – not assured and realised yet.
The new Baltic Sea port Ust-Luga with a planned annual handling capacity of 35 million t will hold a key function in Russia’s port politics within the Baltic Sea area. The advantages of the new port are its usability at 326 days a year without the need of ice-breakers, and in addition to that, the natural depth of the bay permits large vessels to approach the port via the short access channel of 3.7 km. Besides that Ust-Luga possesses sufficient land for further expansions.
The first expansion stage of the Ust-Luga port comprised the construction of the port’s coal terminal. The terminal’s first section with an annual handling capacity of 1 million t, equipped with coal handling systems supplied by TAKRAF was commissioned in August 2003. The second expansion stage with an annual capacity of 3 million t, also facilitated by TAKRAF installations, was finalized in 2006. The coal terminal is scheduled to be operating at an annual handling capacity of 8 million t by the end of 2008.
As a consequence of its traditionally good connections in the Russian market, it was possible for TAKRAF to follow the planning process right from the beginning. Already at conception stage of the new coal terminal in the Ust-Luga sea port (Leningrad Region) TAKRAF’s specialists supported the design engineer of the institute Lenmornii-project, responsible for the planning, with technical consulting. New ideas were developed to facilitate reliable coal handling after erection of the complex. In the past the coal was transported by railway about 4000 km across Russia.