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  • 2012 May 3

    Vostochny Port COO Anatoly Lazarev: "We run the investment program completely at our own expense"

    Russian coal exporters have been focused recently on the Far East region. In an interview with PortNews Anatoly Lazarev, Chief Operations Officer of JSC Vostochny Port told about the development of the stevedore company, the largest in the region specializing in handling of export coal.

    - Anatoly, what are the plans of Vostochny Port for freight transshipment in 2012? How are you going to boost the cargo throughput?

    - JSC Vostochny Port is the largest stevedoring company in the Primorsky Territory. The main segment of Vostochny Port’s freight turnover is the export coal. According to the 2011 year-end results the coal accounted for 98% of the port’s total traffic volume (16,194,900 tons).

    The major volume of cargo, nearly 84%, is handled at the specialized Coal Terminal (PPK-3) using conveyor equipment, the automated system of unloading railcars and loading the cargo onto ships. The rest of the freight flow is handled at Universal Handling Terminal (PPK-1), which utilizes the state-of-the-art equipment and the grab technology for loading / unloading operations. In addition to exports transshipment, the facility is engaged in handling short sea traffic volumes, intended for the so-called Northern Deliveries, the cargo shipped to remote regions of the Russian Far East.

    According to the 2011 year-end statistics the company saw 16.5 million tons of different cargoes versus 14.7 million tons a year earlier, or a 12-percent gain year-over-year. Of these numbers, Coal Terminal handled 13.493,600 tons of coal, up 13% y-o-y, the Universal Handling Terminal - 4.7 3 million tons of coal (+7%). We’ve seen very good start this year, as the first-quarter output exceeds by 12.3% the figure for same period of 2011. I am sure that by the end of the year Vostochny Port will be able to handle about 17.2 million tons of cargo.

    Annual increase in the volumes of handled freight is the result of effective joint efforts and cooperation of teams of the Management Company, Vostochny Port, JSC RZD (Russian Railways) and the company's customers. A great contribution to cargo throughput growth is the current program aimed at improv of handling operations and the equipment upgrade. The program, which is now in it’s forth year is intended for the period until 2015.

    During this time, we have significantly expanded the port’s fleet of modern handling equipment. The first substantial replenishment was the acquisition of new railcar dumpers for Coal Terminal. For the past three years the equipment has proved its effectiveness. Since the port has commenced handling primarily coal products, the company had to implement the upgrade of the Universal Handling Terminal’s equipment, where we apply grab cranes for bulk cargo handling. We’ve purchased four new Giporec R131C crushing and screening plants, two belt conveyors T5036, two powerful RT cranes Sennebogen 870 and two Sennebogen 835 cranes, one front-end loader Komatsu WA470, two Toyota FD15 forklifts and a K703 truck-tractor for handling railcars, snow generator to improve environmental performance during coal handling operations. Two new crawler excavators Liebherr R 934 complete with bucket and clamshell bucket and auger have proven their reliability. In June 2011, we put into service Superior B-TSSA telestacker conveyors, and in September started operating gantry crane "Vityaz" of lifting capacity of 64 tons.

    A lot of work has been done by the management company and the port authorities to facilitate unloading process in winter. In January last year we purchased for PPK-3 a drill-ripping machine, which was a great help during the winter the 2011 - 2012 period. It is intended for breaking the slabs of consolidated frozen coal before railcars are placed in our defrosting installations. This complex is unique because the machine is equipped with nine augers, in contrast to the prototypes, which provides only three or four drilling units. Utilizing the plant has greatly improved the trouble-free discharge of railcars, to reduce the time for thawing coal-laden cars and the time of crushing and milling plants operations. The drill-ripping machine is designed to work both in automatic and manual modes. We also upgraded the defrosting facility. Now the total capacity of the facility is 80 gondolas instead of 72. This also enables us to handle smoothly incoming trains, which in turn leads to a reduction in shunting operations. Upon completion of the two crushing and milling machines upgrade, the axis "B" of car dumper was fully equipped with modern equipment, excluding the work of people in the danger zone, with the increased productivity during unloading of frozen coal. Along the axis "A" on the car dumper we have set up the 100m-long wind-proof. It is a hangar-type tunnel through which the gondolas are supplied for unloading. One of the blocks of this structure has a length of 30 meters with infrared emitters. Now, besides slowing down the process of cooling the heated gondolas during severe cold, they can be heated just before coming in car dumper rotor. We’ve paid much attention to the environment protection system while unloading coal-laden cars and replaced dust collectors. This modern system will significantly reduce the dust content at the work area. It should be noted that the investment program is implemented entirely at Vostochny Port’s own expense.

    - Do you plan the expansion of your cranes fleet expansion and upgrade of the port fleet?

    - Yes we do, as part of our investment program we plan to continue upgrading the crane equipment. We plan by the end of this year to purchase for Universal Handling Terminal two Liebherr R 954 mobile cranes. We will have a new, modern gantry crane "Aist" mounted in the first quarter of 2013. We will certainly continue the modernization of Coal Terminal. We have already signed a contract with Japanese Mitsui for the supply of ship-loaders, and will be ready to replace the old one in the second half of 2013, the second one is scheduled for replacement for 2014.

    As for the port fleet, we have placed an order for a new powerful ASD tug with the Dutch shipbuilding company Damen. The vessel will be powered by twin Caterpillar engines (4200 hp) and equipped with the bow towing winch, the fire pump of capacity of 600 cbm / hour and a foam fire extinguishing system that will enable to tug to extinguish fires. With this new tug the new port fleet of Vostochny Port will comprise 5 vessels.

    - Does the existing railway capacity hamper the development of the port?

    - Undoubtedly, the railway and ports depend on each other, it is impossible to talk about the development of the port without the simultaneous development of the rail tracks and near dock railyard. As for the capacity, in the framework of Kozmino oil port construction, RZD has commenced the overhaul and modernization of its facilities. Over time, the export oil will be supplied to Kozmino through the pipeline and the new railways capacity will be redirected to other ports of Primorsky Territory, including our port.

    The both sides are interested in normal and fruitful relationships. Therefore, in the daily work we have perfected the practice of daily conference calls with local and regional offices of the railroad, personal meetings, both with top executives and leading specialists, permanent business correspondence, approval of daily plans for handling railcars. If necessary, we implement joint projects, for example, to reduce the time to perform shunting on the tracks of Coal Terminal, we lease from the near-dock railyard Nakhodka-Vostochnaya the locomotives (two in winter and one in summer) and have been making this phase of work. As a result – time savings can significantly increase the daily handling of railcars.  

    - When do you plan to commence the third phase of PPK-3 construction? It’s parameters?

    - Actually, Vostochny Port has long been engaged in the construction of the Coal Terminal Phase 3. We are currently finalizing the project documentation and the requirements of supervising agencies.

    The third phase of Universal Coal Terminal involves the construction of four additional warehouses, equipped with two stackers, four reclaimers, an additional berth with two ship loaders, two car dumpers, the rail infrastructure for supply / removal of cars and railcar defrosting installations.

    - Do you have any special social program for the port? How much have you invested in social projects in recent years?

    - The managing company and the Port Authority pay great attention to Vostochny Port’s social programs and we continually improve the quality and working conditions. One of the most important factors in long-term sustainable development of the Company are both the effective social policy and partnership with its employees. The maximum safety of operations and the welfare of employees were and are the main components of the social programs of the Company. The Managing Company and its Board believe that the performance depends on the emotional comfort and positive attitude of the personnel. We run scores of social programs for employees of the port as stipulated by the labor contract and besides it. We are doing a great job to provide the workers and their families with entertainments, recreational facilities. We give them free tickets to concerts of Russian pop stars and performances that tour our city. We also organize weekend trips around Primorsky Krai, provide sports clubs membership cards. We give interest-free loans to employees for education and urgent needs, reimburse up to 70% of the cost of sanatorium-and-spa treatment, etc.

    In 2011, Vostochny Port invested RUB 36,721,000 in social programs, in 2010 – RUB 31,713,000. We set aside for this year RUB 46,192,000.  

    We pay great attention to labor protection and industrial safety. In 2011 the Company spent more than 29 million rubles. The Company management values its employees and is trying to create decent safe working conditions for them.

    The company runs different refresher training programs, to encourage young workers to make career in JSC Vostochny Port.

    Vostochn Port is the major enterprise creating jobs in the city we provide all possible support to municipal organizations, kindergartens and schools, to the sports development and the nearby village. Last year we spent RUB 9,218,000 for sponsorship and charity.

    - What is the average wage of workers in Vostochny Port and in other Primorsky ports?

    - Certainly, the level of wages is one of the most important social issues. It’s always been on a good level and tends to increase in our Company. For example, in 2011 the average wage, taking into account annual fees and long service bonuses amounted to 42,170 rubles. The wage increased by 12% on average from 2010.

    We conduct quarterly wages indexation. With the 5.58-percent inflation in the region and the 6.1-percent rate in the Russian Federation, we have indexation of wages at 6.5%. Not every company can boast such achievements. Besides, the wages in Vostochny Port exceeds by 10,000 to 15,000 rubles that of other stevedores in Primorsky Territory. We value our staff, we estimate the rate of inflation, the growth of the basket of goods, the cost of utility bills and, therefore, we try to ensure for our workers adequate wage and social guarantees.

    Interviewed by Nadezhda Malysheva.

    Russian coal exporters have been focused recently on the Far East region. In a recent interview with PortNews Anatoly Lazarev, Chief Operations Officer of JSC Vostochny Port told about the development of the stevedore company, the largest in the region specializing in handling export coal.
    - Anatoly, what are the plans of Vostochny Port for freight transshipment in 2012? How are you going to boost the cargo throughput?
    - JSC Vostochny Port is the largest stevedoring company in the Primorsky Territory. The main segment of Vostochny Port’s freight turnover is the export coal. According to the 2011 year-end results the coal accounted for 98% of the port’s total traffic volume (16,194,900 tons).

    The major volume of cargo, nearly 84%, is handled at the specialized Coal Terminal (PPK-3) using conveyor equipment, the automated system of unloading railcars and loading the cargo onto ships. The rest of the freight flow is handled at Universal Handling Terminal (PPK-1), which utilizes the state-of-the-art equipment and the grab technology for loading / unloading operations. In addition to exports transshipment, the facility is engaged in handling short sea traffic volumes, intended for the so-called Northern Deliveries, the cargo shipped to remote regions of the Russian Far East.

    According to the 2011 year-end statistics the company saw 16.5 million tons of different cargoes versus 14.7 million tons a year earlier, or a 12-percent gain year-over-year. Of these numbers, Coal Terminal handled 13.493,600 tons of coal, up 13% y-o-y, the Universal Handling Terminal - 4.7 3 million tons of coal (+7%). We’ve seen very good start this year, as the first-quarter output exceeds by 12.3% the figure for same period of 2011. I am sure that by the end of the year Vostochny Port will be able to handle about 17.2 million tons of cargo.
    Annual increase in the volumes of handled freight is the result of effective joint efforts and cooperation of teams of the Management Company, Vostochny Port, JSC RZD (Russian Railways) and the company's customers. A great contribution to cargo throughput growth is the current program aimed at improv of handling operations and the equipment upgrade. The program, which is now in it’s forth year is intended for the period until 2015.
    During this time, we have significantly expanded the port’s fleet of modern handling equipment. The first substantial replenishment was the acquisition of new railcar dumpers for Coal Terminal. For the past three years the equipment has proved its effectiveness. Since the port has commenced handling primarily coal products, the company had to implement the upgrade of the Universal Handling Terminal’s equipment, where we apply grab cranes for bulk cargo handling. We’ve purchased four new Giporec R131C crushing and screening plants, two belt conveyors T5036, two powerful RT cranes Sennebogen 870 and two Sennebogen 835 cranes, one front-end loader Komatsu WA470, two Toyota FD15 forklifts and a K703 truck-tractor for handling railcars, snow generator to improve environmental performance during coal handling operations. Two new crawler excavators Liebherr R 934 complete with bucket and clamshell bucket and auger have proven their reliability. In June 2011, we put into service Superior B-TSSA telestacker conveyors, and in September started operating gantry crane "Vityaz" of lifting capacity of 64 tons.
    A lot of work has been done by the management company and the port authorities to facilitate unloading process in winter. In January last year we purchased for PPK-3 a drill-ripping machine, which was a great help during the winter the 2011 - 2012 period. It is intended for breaking the slabs of consolidated frozen coal before railcars are placed in our defrosting installations. This complex is unique because the machine is equipped with nine augers, in contrast to the prototypes, which provides only three or four drilling units. Utilizing the plant has greatly improved the trouble-free discharge of railcars, to reduce the time for thawing coal-laden cars and the time of crushing and milling plants operations. The drill-ripping machine is designed to work both in automatic and manual modes. We also upgraded the defrosting facility. Now the total capacity of the facility is 80 gondolas instead of 72. This also enables us to handle smoothly incoming trains, which in turn leads to a reduction in shunting operations. Upon completion of the two crushing and milling machines upgrade, the axis "B" of car dumper was fully equipped with modern equipment, excluding the work of people in the danger zone, with the increased productivity during unloading of frozen coal. Along the axis "A" on the car dumper we have set up the 100m-long wind-proof. It is a hangar-type tunnel through which the gondolas are supplied for unloading. One of the blocks of this structure has a length of 30 meters with infrared emitters. Now, besides slowing down the process of cooling the heated gondolas during severe cold, they can be heated just before coming in car dumper rotor. We’ve paid much attention to the environment protection system while unloading coal-laden cars and replaced dust collectors. This modern system will significantly reduce the dust content at the work area. It should be noted that the investment program is implemented entirely at Vostochny Port’s own expense.

    - Do you plan the expansion of your cranes fleet expansion and upgrade of the port fleet?

    - Yes we do, as part of our investment program we plan to continue upgrading the crane equipment. We plan by the end of this year to purchase for Universal Handling Terminal two Liebherr R 954 mobile cranes. We will have a new, modern gantry crane "Aist" mounted in the first quarter of 2013. We will certainly continue the modernization of Coal Terminal. We have already signed a contract with Japanese Mitsui for the supply of ship-loaders, and will be ready to replace the old one in the second half of 2013, the second one is scheduled for replacement for 2014.
    As for the port fleet, we have placed an order for a new powerful ASD tug with the Dutch shipbuilding company Damen. The vessel will be powered by twin Caterpillar engines (4200 hp) and equipped with the bow towing winch, the fire pump of capacity of 600 cbm / hour and a foam fire extinguishing system that will enable to tug to extinguish fires. With this new tug the new port fleet of Vostochny Port will comprise 5 vessels.
    - Does the existing railway capacity hamper the development of the port?
    - Undoubtedly, the railway and ports depend on each other, it is impossible to talk about the development of the port without the simultaneous development of the rail tracks and near dock railyard. As for the capacity, in the framework of Kozmino oil port construction, RZD has commenced the overhaul and modernization of its facilities. Over time, the export oil will be supplied to Kozmino through the pipeline and the new railways capacity will be redirected to other ports of Primorsky Territory, including our port.
    The both sides are interested in normal and fruitful relationships. Therefore, in the daily work we have perfected the practice of daily conference calls with local and regional offices of the railroad, personal meetings, both with top executives and leading specialists, permanent business correspondence, approval of daily plans for handling railcars. If necessary, we implement joint projects, for example, to reduce the time to perform shunting on the tracks of Coal Terminal, we lease from the near-dock railyard Nakhodka-Vostochnaya the locomotives (two in winter and one in summer) and have been making this phase of work. As a result – time savings can significantly increase the daily handling of railcars.  
    - When do you plan to commence the third phase of PPK-3 construction? It’s parameters?
    - Actually, Vostochny Port has long been engaged in the construction of the Coal Terminal Phase 3. We are currently finalizing the project documentation and the requirements of supervising agencies.
    The third phase of Universal Coal Terminal involves the construction of four additional warehouses, equipped with two stackers, four reclaimers, an additional berth with two ship loaders, two car dumpers, the rail infrastructure for supply / removal of railcars and railcar defrosting installations.

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