During the recent International Investment Forum “Far East – 2014”, that was held in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city on September 5, 2014, a collaboration agreement was signed for the development of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Seaport container terminal intended for the transshipment of goods from the Asia-Pacific region to Europe via the Northern Sea Route.
The document was signed by Vladimir Ilyukhin, governor of Kamchatka Territory, Andrey Tarasenko, FSUE “Rosmorport” General Director, and Ivan Kapralov, General Director of LLC “Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Sea Trade Port”.
The agreement provides for close cooperation between the parties on the implementation of the project to create the port and the port-side infrastructure, which will increase handling of containerized cargo in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Seaport for more than 15 times.
The main advantage of the Northern Sea Route, as an alternative route for delivery of goods, is its relatively shorter length compared to other Asia-Pacific-Europe routes, reducing shipping time by approx. 30%. Construction of the container terminal in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Seaport will not only contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the Northern Sea Route, but also to the development of the region.
Andrei Tarasenko emphasized that the implementation of this project will require solving a multitude of tasks associated with the recovery and reconstruction of the port stations and infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route.
In addition, it is necessary to construct new ice-class container ships with a capacity of up to 5,000 TEU, as well as new icebreakers to provide the work on the route, which has moderate to severe type of ice conditions during the year.