The practice of compulsory pilotage is widespread worldwide in the areas with challenging navigation and shipping conditions. Water areas of most seaports feature such conditions as the flows of vessels meet at the approaches to the port which entails higher risk of incidents.

Design institutions of Russia have developed quite a lot of projects of offshore vessels, platforms and marine equipment. However, implementation of those projects is to face numerous challenges.

The scope of dredging works at water areas of Russia will total some 30 mln cbm in 2016 and is expected to remain at this level next year. Only half of dredging operations is performed by the fleet of FSUE Rosmorport with the rest of works done by contractors.

According to publically available information, the recent meeting of RF Government was dedicated to withdrawal of Russia’s foreign trade cargo from the foreign ports of the Baltic Sea. Apart from liquid bulk cargo those ports handle Russian dry bulk cargo: coal and mineral fertilizers. Their complete withdrawal from foreign ports will, nevertheless, require new investments in development of specialized terminals.

The issues of Northern Sea Route development were discussed by the experts at the IX International Forum "Transport and Transit Potential" in Saint-Petersburg. On the agenda was the improvement of logistics, ensuring of safe navigation, encouraging of investments into the anchor zone on the Kola peninsula (Murmansk Region), etc.

Transneft’s recent announcement on the coming complete redirection of its freight flows from the foreign ports of the Baltic Sea to Russia’s seaports has caused a stir. However, this process has been going on for a long time and is nearing its completion. Yet, the redirection of raw cargo with its low margin doesn’t matter all that much for the economics. It would be much more significant to struggle for containers and Ro-Ro cargo.

The challenges of cargo transit via the Kaliningrad Region, an exclave territory of Russia, are still on the table though the authorities have undertaken a package of measures to improve the situation. The region suggests expansion of subsidies to the seaborne transport, launch of more ferryboats at Ust-Luga-Baltijsk line and container trains between Poland and Moscow.

Infotech Baltika JSC, one of Russia’s leading logistics companies, tells IAA PortNews about heavy cargo transportation by inland water ways of Russia.

In his interview with IAA PortNews held at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Ilya Shestakov, Head of Russia’s Federal Fisheries Agency, explains the situation with marine berths of Russian fishing ports.

In HI’2016, Black Sea container terminals of Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Bulgaria handled 1,222,326 TEUs, including empty containers and excluding transshipment.