Border guard makes no concession to stevedores
From February 1, 2007, three stevedoring companies of the port of Saint Petersburg have to count their losses as border guard have terminated temporal inspection of imported cargo at the berths taken by the company on lease.
Down tools!
Activities of four temporary border control points located at the territory of the port of Saint Petersburg were terminated from February 1, 2007 till their complete development and equipment. The decision of FSB in response to Saint Petersburg Governor’s annual request for extending operation of temporary border control points was not identical as regards all the points. FSB denied extension of the term at four temporary checkpoints located at the territory of Sea Fishing Port LLC, Baltijski Zavod OJSC, berth No5 of Severnaya Verf and between Big Turukhtannaya gavan and Small Turukhtannaya gavan. Thus, no vessel carrying imported cargo may be handled at the berths serviced by these checkpoints.
The decision affected activities of three stevedoring companies specializing in handling refrigerated containers, general and bulk cargo and metal: Sea Fishing Port LLC (in 2006, the company’s cargo turnover totaled 1.138 million tons according to statistics provided by RF Transport Ministry), Terminal-Service LLC (750 thou tons a year) and Zavod Morgidrostroi CJSC (375 thou tons a year).
Not accepted
PortNews IAA learnt from Sea Fishing Port that information about the decision to close the points from February 1 was provided to the company on January 26, 2007 after 18:00. Ship owners were informed by the company and by February 1 fourteen vessels disclaimed calling which resulted in loss of 48 thou tons of cargo, which means loss of RUR 18 million according to calculations of the company. Refrigerated containers with JFC and Sunway fruit cargo were accepted by the port of Riga while general cargo was handled by the new Estonian port of Sillamae.
Besides the port’s own cargo the points were used for clearance of Nissan ro-ro cargo coming by ferry to the new terminal Onega of Oslo Marine group of companies. The Group’s President Vitali Arkhangelski told PortNews IAA that Oslo Marine was given a special permit of border guard for clearance of the cars at the Fishing Port as the group’s project is considered to be a strategic one for the city. On February 4, Sunday, our ferry will come to the berths of the Fishing Port, Arkhangelski said.
One more attempt
As PortNews IAA learnt from Elena Timofeeva, representative of Saint Petersburg Transport-and-Transit Committee, one more application in the name of Saint Petersburg Governor is ready to be handed in to Nikolai Patrushev, FSB Director, with a request for extension of a temporal permit for operation of closed border control points. The city is ready to vouch for stevedoring companies, which carry out their own work on development of the closed points. Both project and work schedules have been approved by the Leningrad Region border authorities. It is difficult to say when the response is to come. The previous letter of Valentina Matvienko was sent to Moscow on December 29, 2006 while the response was received on January 17, 2007. It is quite fast, Timofeeva says. The port authorities think it may take at least 5 days. However, even this short period will result in enormous losses. If the decision is in effect for a month it will mean a complete collapse, the port’s representative told PortNews IAA.
The port is to suffer
From December 2006, forwarding companies operating at the port of Saint Petersburg notice a decline of the port’s attractiveness for cargo owners focused at container transportation. The majority of cargo was accepted by the ports of Baltic states and Finland. Containers have to stay at the port for 12-15 days which forces cargo owners chose other routs. It cannot but influences the market of container transportation. According to Ekaterin Efremova, Director General of Greenway-Neva LLC, in January 2007, six ocean container lines closed their services to Saint Petersburg due to the problems with proper handling of cargo. Besides, from December 2006, the majority of linear operators introduced a so called critical extra charge for each container in the port of Saint Petersburg. From February 1 it grew from $150 per 1 TEU to $300 per 1 TEU. It is probably caused by growing risks in the port.
The damage suffered by stevedoring companies could be calculated after the port’s operation recovers in full. All the related commercial structures operating in the sector of transport, storage, logistics and forwarding services as well as stores and their customers will be also effected considerably. It will be much more difficult to estimate the loss of municipal and federal budget. The damage of the port’s competitiveness and prestige will be reflected by decreased cargo turnover in February 2007.