Ust-Luga discovers Africa

Novotrans Group of Companies and RIF Trade House signed an open-ended cooperation agreement last week. Novotrans will be providing services for grain transshipment and storage at LUGAPORT at the Ust-Luga sea port. 

“Signing the agreement with the RIF Trading House will pave the way for the operations of the LUGAPORT universal trade terminal’s grain complex,” notes the Novotrans Group of Companies president Konstantin Goncharov. First cargo shipments are scheduled for December 2023, the Group’s press service told Gudok. 

Full-fledged commissioning of the LUGAPORT universal trade terminal is scheduled for December 2024. 

Project cargo turnover of the LUGAPORT universal trade terminal equals 7 million tons a year, with a cargo volume of 380 thousand tons able to be stored on site at a time. The terminal project includes creating complexes for processing bulk, break-bulk, food and grain cargoes totaling 24.3 million tons a year. 

LUGAPORT is characterized by a high export potential with regards to domestic agricultural products, notes the RIF Trading House Director Marina Turyanskaya. According to her, while the long-term cooperation with Novotrans opens up new vistas for bulk capacity growth, increasing export volumes and expanding markets with respect to her company, it is also set to increase the amount of customs revenue and tax payments for Russia’s state budget. 

The company’s grain products will be exported to African countries – Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Nigeria, the Novotrans press service reports.

According to Sergei Sokolov, Vice president and Chairman of Opora Russia’s commission on the development of the grain complex, LUGAPORT could be a serious infrastructural competitor for ports in the Azov-Black Sea basin. 

“The nuances and the specific features of the traffic, which the North Caucasus Railway has seen developing for several years now, dictate the need to look for alternatives, and the Ust-Luga port is a good option for the RIF company, taking into account that the company operates almost on all markets,” he says. 

In the future, the terminal can also offer small businesses the opportunity to ship combined grain cargoes, the expert summarizes.

Olga Shelkova

Source: Gudok