Investments into Astrakhan Region SEZ to exceed RUB 25 billion by 2026
A unified logistic operator with a public ownership can be established under the project
Investments into the project of creation a special economic zone (SEZ) in the Astrakhan Region near the Olya sea port are to exceed RUB 25 billion by 2026, Denis Afanasyev, Minister of Industry and Natural Resources of the Astrakhan Region, said at IAA PortNews’ webinar “All Ferries. Caspian Basin”.
According to him, RUB 10.5 billion are to be allocated from the federal budget, RUB 106 million - from the regional budget with some RUB 15 billion of private investments.
The approval procedure for the related decree of RF Government is nearing completion.
Port logistics company “Kaspiy” has been defined as the anchor resident of the SEZ.
At the initial phase of the project, cargo will be handled at Berths NoNo 8-9 of Olya seaport (to be included into SEZ).
At the next phase, a new cargo handling district will be built south of Olya port.
The project foresees the development of container transportation along the Volga-Caspian Canal. For that purpose, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) has designed two container carriers with a draft of 4.2 meters and capacity of 380 TEUs and 480 TEUs.
“Deployment of such ships will decrease expenses on the use of containers. With the subsidized transportation of transit containers across the territory of Russia we expect the North-South transport corridor to be competitive as compared with the current southern maritime route”, said the official.
In his opinion, it is reasonable to establish a unified operator with a public ownership in the Astrakhan Region. The operator is to provide a package of shipping services involving its own infrastructure, a unified tariff for cargo transportation, as well as insurance and container turnover services, etc.
The Minister believes that the highest efficiency of the operator can be achieved with a line fleet in the Caspian Sea, participation of the operator in shipping lines including those in the Persian Gulf.
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