The construction of a deepwater berth at the NUTEP terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk will allow Russia to offer regular year-round ice-free calls for vessels up to 10,000 teu for the first time.
NUTEP, a subsidiary of DeloPorts and sister company to multimodal transport specialist Ruscon, is already the largest container terminal in the port but currently handles most deepsea cargo via transhipment at Istanbul or Piraeus.
Konstantin Kalugin, CCO of NUTEP, commented in a release today: “The new deepwater quay will alter the status quo on the Black Sea and change existing supply chain networks in the region. It will reduce both shipping and terminal costs for clients and increase delivery speed by 4-12 days for cargo headed for Russia.”
The first piles have been driven for the new 341 m quay after two years of planning and approvals, with completion scheduled for late 2018. The berth depth of 15.6 m, compared with two berths of 12.3 m today, will increase LOA (load line) to 320 m from 270 m. This will allow containerships of up to 10,000 teu in size to make regular calls to the Russian port for the first time.
The 26.5 ha NUTEP terminal will double in capacity to handle 700,000 teu per annum as part of the project.
DeloPorts also owns and operates a grain terminal and a bunkering services company in Novorossiysk.
Transiting the Bosporous will offer some interesting challenges.