The Russian government has signed an agreement of cooperation with several companies in the Far East to construct a new multipurpose cargo port in Vladivostok, state development firm VEB.RF has announced.
The deal was struck on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.
“VEB.RF, the Government of the Primorsky region, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation and the Port Infrastructure Development Center signed an agreement on cooperation on the implementation of a large-scale port project,” the firm’s press service said.
According to VEB.RF, the new multipurpose transshipment complex – the New Port of Vladivostok – will be constructed in the Sukhodol Bay, 80 kilometers from Vladivostok. Construction is expected to attract an estimated 180 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) in private investment.
The project includes the construction of a coal terminal with a capacity of 12 million tons a year, which is already underway on the site. Authorities plan to expand its capacity in the future to 20 million tons per year. Other facilities include a deep-water container terminal and a grain cargo terminal. The total cargo turnover of the port is expected to be over 70 million tons. Authorities expect it to become the driver of the development of the Far East region.
“The implementation of the project will be an important contribution to the advanced social and economic development of the Far East,” Russia’s Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexei Chekunkov said, as quoted by the press service.
“The new port will reduce transshipment and logistics costs for operators of transshipment terminals in the south of Primorsky region and become a driver for the development of related industries, making it possible to create a comfortable environmentally friendly home for the citizens of Vladivostok and contributing to the accelerated development of cargo turnover in the region,” he said.