As Europe accelerates preparations for transfer of vessels sailing in the Baltic and North Seas to LNG, Russia only speaks about construction of required infrastructure. However, market players believe Russian LNG can be quite competitive in terms of prices, especially in case of adequate state support. They say, LNG plant should be better built in Saint-Petersburg, rather than in Ust-Luga, Vyborg or Primorsk.

IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu, who came to Saint-Petersburg for participation in special events dedicated to the centenary of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, tells IAA PortNews about prospects of the Arctic navigation, anti-piracy measures and stringent environmental requirements for vessels in the North and Baltic Seas.

Canada responds to Russia’s Northern Sea Route with the North West Passage. First transit voyage from Canada to Finland was made via this route in September 2013. It is supposed to be developed as an alternative to the Panama Canal as well as to the Northern Sea Route.

HELCOM Ministerial Declaration adopted upon the results of the 2013 Ministerial Meeting of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) held in Copenhagen (Denmark) on October 3, 2013 does not declare the necessity to announce NOx Emission Control Area (NECA) status of the Baltic Sea from 2016.

A bunker hub with LNG bunkering center is to be developed in port Slavyanka of the Primorsk Territory. With that, experts think it would be reasonable to ban the use of straight-run fuel oil as bunker but forward it for production of cracked oil instead.

Sergey Baryshnikov, Rector of the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping, tells IAA PortNews about the events to involve the tall ship Mir in 2014 and about the first results of merging two institutions into the new University.

3-pct economic growth, 11,500 new jobs in the industry, over 6.1 mln passengers transported by cruise companies and record number of vessels under construction: cruise business of Europe is atop the waves.

Russia has conceived a new reform of shipbuilding industry management but seems to have got tangled: Marine Board has withheld the approval of the draft Strategy for USC development till 2030 with contradictory opinions expressed at its meeting. Some vote for USC dissolution.

The construction of Arctic port Sabetta is a somewhat unique project. Therefore, all the parties have to solve a range of sophisticated problems unfamiliar to those who used to design and build other ports. For example, Rosneft has already acknowledged the project to be too challenging to invest in it.

The construction of container transshipment port hub is being considered in Crimea. Experts are skeptical about the project’s future as the ports outside the Black Sea are better tailored for container transshipment.