Port of St. Petersburg
Port Commerce

The Port Authority of St. Petersburg is a state body responsible for organizing trade navigation in the Port of St. Petersburg. The Port of St. Petersburg is located on the islands of the Neva Delta in Neva Bay off the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.

Entrance sign to the port of St. Petersburg

Entrance sign to the port of St. Petersburg

The sign still reads 'Leningrad'.
Photo by Stan Shebs

Facilities in the Port of St. Petersburg support commercial sea trade, an oil terminal, ship-building and repair, and passenger services. In addition to the Oktyabrskaya (October) Railway, the Port of St. Petersburg operates a fleet of more than 470 vessels that include 122 tugs, 13 ice breakers, and 66 tankers as well as pilotage boats, road boats, a fire vessel, and boats for oil garbage disposal, carrying water, and collecting bilge water. The Port of St. Petersburg has about 30 bunker companies, eight of which have their own fleet.

In the recent past, shipping in the Port of St. Petersburg has increased dramatically with the construction of new facilities on both sides of the Gulf of Finland. Increased vessel size and traffic have led to expansion of the Port of St. Petersburg's main channel. Expansion of the Port of St. Petersburg channel was designed in three stages. Stage 1 involved enlarging the channel bottom width to 140 meters (459 feet) and dredging channel depths to 13.1 meters (43 feet) to the Coal Harbor, to 13.6 meters (44.6 feet) to at mid-channel, and to 14.3 meters (46.9 feet) from the entrance buoy to the dam, allowing tankers with 12.5 meter (41 foot) draft.

Stage 2 of the Port of St. Petersburg channel expansion involved dredging the main channel to 14 meters (45.9 feet) to the Coal Harbor, to 14.4 meters (47.2 feet) in mid-channel, and to 15.1 meters (49.5 feet) from the entrance buoy to the dam, allowing bulk carriers with 13-meter (42.7-foot) draft. Stage 3 in the Port of St. Petersburg channel expansion brought the channel bottom width to 150-160 meters (492 to 525 feet).

The Port of St. Petersburg accepts vessels to 320 meters (over one thousand feet) in length, to 42 (137.8 feet) meters in width, and with draft of up to 11 meters (36.1 feet). Larger vessels must have written permission to enter or exit the Port of St. Petersburg. Winds can cause water levels to vary from one to four meters (3.3 to 13.1 feet) in the Port of St. Petersburg.

Container Terminal<br>Port of St. Petersburg

Container Terminal
Port of St. Petersburg

View is from Kanonersky island. Taken 22 March 2010.
Photo by e.asphyx

The Port of St. Petersburg is open for navigation throughout the year. Business hours are on weekdays and non-holidays from 8:30am until 5:00pm. During the winter, icebreakers provide pilotage services. Terminals, warehouses, and piers in the Port of St. Petersburg are leased to 25 stevedoring companies that are licensed to handle and perform cargo operations. The Port of St. Petersburg covers about 630 square meters (6.8 thousand square feet) of water area, and the port contains 200 berths with a total mooring line of about 31 kilometers (19.3 miles).

Most of the berths in the Port of St. Petersburg can handle vessels with draft of 9.8 meters (32.2 feet); however, there are berths that can accommodate vessels with drafts to 11 meters (36.1 feet) and length of 320 meters (over 1000 feet). Port of St. Petersburg berths handle containers, timber, cars, machinery, heavy weight and over-sized cargo, coal, grain, and a wide range of other cargoes. The Port of St. Petersburg is linked to ports all over the world by 24 shipping lines.

One of the most important sectors in the Port of St. Petersburg is the cruise industry. Cruise ships moor at Vasilievsky Island, in the main port, and in the historic city center. There are three passenger berths on the Port of St. Petersburg's Promenade des Anglais with total length of 432 meters (over 1.4 thousand feet). Two passenger berths on the waterfront with total length of 360 meters (almost 1.2 thousand feet) opened in September 2008. In 2009, 377 cruise ships called at the Port of St. Petersburg carrying 434.5 thousand passengers.

The main anchorage in the Port of St. Petersburg contains four areas. Designed for foreign vessels and Russian Federation civilian agencies, Anchorage 4 has a minimum depth of 23.5 meters (77.1 feet) with mud and sand bottom. Anchorage 4A in the Port of St. Petersburg is used by vessels owned by civilian agencies of the Russian Federation. It can accommodate four vessels up to 300 meters (984.2 feet) long with a draft of up to 11 meters (36.1 feet) and eight vessels up to 180 meters (590.5 feet) long with a draft of 10 meters (32.8 feet). Anchorage 4B handles river-sea vessels. With a minimum depth of 25 meters (82 feet) and a soil-sand bottom, Anchorage 5A is for vessels awaiting entrance to the Port of St. Petersburg.

Port of Saint Petersburg

Port of Saint Petersburg

Port activity in the early morning, August 2003.
Photo by Stan Shebs

Services offered by operators in the Port of St. Petersburg include loading and unloading of vehicles; receipt, delivery, and maintenance of goods, and storage of cargo. Services supporting the reloading of vessels include

  • inspecting, weighing, repackaging, labeling, and sorting of goods;
  • providing special strapping on ships;
  • developing and placing project, over-sized, heavy, non-standard, and dangerous goods;
  • providing infrastructure for anchorage;
  • mooring;
  • providing cargo-handling equipment;
  • cleaning vessel cargo spaces;
  • stowing cargo on board vessels;
  • forwarding cargo;
  • coordinating transport of imported goods by rail;
  • and clearing bills of lading and cargo manifests.

The Port of St. Petersburg is the marine capital of Russia and the gateway to Russia for Europe. JSC (Sea Port of Saint Petersburg) is the largest dry cargo transshipment provider in the Port of St. Petersburg and in northwest Russia. The Port of St. Petersburg employs more than two thousand people. JSC strives to provide high-quality and far-reaching services to efficiently handle foreign cargo flows by developing modern infrastructure and continuously improving that infrastructure, including intermodal transfers for transport by road and rail.

JSC is implementing a Port of St. Petersburg infrastructure program through 2015 that includes the addition of several facilities that include a terminal with capacity for two million tons of ferrous metals each year and multi-purpose handling facilities with capacity for three million tons per year. This Port of St. Petersburg program also includes the second stage of the container terminal, adding annual capacity for 1.2 million TEUs and the second stage of the car terminal, adding capacity for 170 thousand units per year. In addition, the program includes modernizing reloading complexes to double throughput capacity for Port of St. Petersburg facilities.

  • Container terminals

The first dedicated terminal in the Port of St. Petersburg opened in late 1973. In 1998, the First Container Terminal (FCT) was created as a stevedoring company specializing in container-handling operations. FCT is the leading container-handling terminal in Russia and in the Baltic Sea Region. Its feeder network links the FCT to Rotterdam, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, and Antwerp. The Port of St. Petersburg's FCT has the largest reefer plug capacity in Europe.

Container Terminal<br>Port of St. Petersburg

Container Terminal
Port of St. Petersburg

Photo by Otto Jula

The Port of St. Petersburg's FCT covers an area of 89 hectares. Total quay length is 1058 meters (3537 feet), with operational berthing distance of 780 meters (2559 feet) and alongside depth of 11.5 meters (37.7 feet). The container yards have annual throughput capacity for 1.35 million TEUs and storage capacity for 31 thousand TEUs including 2900 reefer plugs.

The FCT in the Port of St. Petersburg is equipped with eight 50-ton STS Panamax cranes, one 104-ton mobile crane, three 45-ton RMG cranes, 19 50-ton rubber-tyred gantry cranes, 37 straddle carriers, and a fleet of reachstackers, terminal tractors, and empty-handlers.

Shipping lines calling at the Port of St. Petersburg's FCT every week include Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC, APL, OOCL, Unifeeder, FESCO ESF, Team Lines, and Swan CL.

The Ust-Luga Container Terminal (ULCT) in the Port of St. Petersburg was the first deep-water container terminal in Russia. Located outside the Port of St. Petersburg urban area, terminal operations do not have the infrastructure and ecological constraints of terminals in the urban area. The ULCT has a 2-month shorter ice period than the main Port of St. Petersburg, and ice conditions are softer. The travel time between the ULCT and Northern Europe's main transshipment ports is from one to two days shorter than from the main Port of St. Petersburg. Furthermore, container vessels do not have to wait to allow tankers and passenger ships to pass first.

The first phase of the Port of St. Petersburg's ULCT began operating in 2011. By 2025, the ULCT will have annual capacity for three million TEUs, and it will be the most technologically-advanced facility in Eastern Europe and Russia, and it will decrease the Port of St. Petersburg's dependency on consignee ports in Finland and the Baltic states. Europe's leading container terminal and logistics group, NCC and Eurogate, manages the ULCT terminal in the Port of St. Petersburg.

In 2011, the Port of St. Petersburg's ULCT covered a total area of 40 hectares and had 440 meters (1443 feet) of quay with alongside depth of 13.5 meters (44.3 feet). This Phase I terminal had annual throughput capacity for 440 thousand TEUs and storage capacity for 15 thousand TEUs including 840 reefer plugs. When completed in 2025, the Port of St. Petersburg's ULCT will cover an area of 140 hectares and have 1700 meters (5577 feet) of quays with alongside depth of 16 meters (52.5 feet). In 2025, the ULCT in the Port of St. Petersburg will have annual throughput capacity for 2.85 million TEUs and storage capacity for 78.7 thousand TEUs with six thousand reefer plugs.

The Logistika-Terminal (LT) at Shushary in the Port of St. Petersburg. Infrastructure at LT includes the container terminal, an empty container depot, a container freight station, and considerable warehousing and distribution facilities. The LT in the Port of St. Petersburg is served by roads and rail. The LT gives the Port of St. Petersburg dry port technology where containers can be offloaded from the First Container Terminal to the LT off-dock facility under a simplified customs control system.

The Port of St. Petersburg's Logistika-Terminal covers 92 hectares and has storage capacity for ten thousand full and 4500 empty TEUs. The LT has annual throughput capacity for 200 thousand TEUs. It is located 17 kilometers (10.6 miles) from the Port of St. Petersburg's First Container Terminal, 161 kilometers (100 miles) from the Ust-Luga Container Terminal in the Port of St. Petersburg, and 620 kilometers (385 miles) from Moscow. The LT has 1757 meters (5764 feet) in two rail tracks for container block trains and 422 meters (1384 feet) in one rail track with a covered platform for ten container cars.

The Port of St. Petersburg's Logistika-Terminal provides a variety of services that include loading and unloading of all types of containers to and from ships and railway platforms, storing containers (including refrigerated containers), moving containers for both customs and veterinary inspections, and conducting pre-trip inspections, weighing containers. The LT in the Port of St. Petersburg also provides office space for rent.

Today, the Port of St. Petersburg's Logistika-Terminal has capacity to handle 500 thousand TEUs per year. It is equipped with four 50-ton container cranes and has a container yard with capacity for over 14.3 thousand TEUs, including 1150 reefer plugs.

The Container Terminal Saint Petersburg (CJSC) handles all types of containers in the port's fourth cargo area on the Turukhtannie Isles in the Coal Harbor of the Gulf of Finland. Opened to supplement out-dated container and general cargo facilities, the Port of St. Petersburg's CJSC has annual capacity for 500 thousand TEUs. The CJSC has three berths with total length of 666 meters (2185 feet) with alongside depths of 9.63 and 11 meters (31.6 and 36.1 feet).

The Port of St. Petersburg's CJSC covers an area of 32 hectares and can store almost 14.4 thousand TEUs, including 1150 reefer containers. The CJSC has four 50-ton ship-to-shore cranes, ten 50-ton rubber-tyred gantry cranes, and two 45-ton reach stackers. The terminal is also equipped with 38 specialized lift trucks with capacity for more than three tons. Two railway tracks of 480 meters (1575 feet) serve this Port of St. Petersburg terminal.

JSC Petrolesport in the Port of St. Petersburg has ample infrastructure and equipment to import and export cargo. The Port of St. Petersburg's JSC Petroesport has 13 quays with total length of 2201 meters (7221 feet) served by 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) of railway tracks and two separate truck gates with four lanes for container trucks and three lanes for general cargo trucks. Open and covered storage facilities are bonded or within the permanent customs control zone.

The container yard in the Port of St. Petersburg's JSC Petrolesport covers 25.7 hectares. The JSC terminal has capacity to handle 11,500 loaded TEUs, 2,200 loaded refrigerated TEUs, 10,800 empty TEUs, and 1,200 empty TEUs at the container depot. The terminal has 1100 sockets for refrigerated containers. The terminal is served by 80 extended-length railway frontage platforms. The berths are equipped with six ship-to-shore cranes and two mobile cranes. The vehicle holding areas can handle 160 container vehicles.

The JSC terminal is served by a COSMOS terminal operating system that supports information exchange with clients' information systems. This Port of St. Petersburg terminal is equipped with a modern maritime security system and an all-weather inspection facility that can handle 120 containers at one time.

  • Bulk and breakbulk terminals

The Port of St. Petersburg has seven berths specializing in handling non-ferrous and ferrous metals and reefer cargoes. These berths have a total length of 1138 meters (3734 feet) with alongside depths from 9.5 to 9.8 meters (31.2 to 32.3 feet).

There are 19 berths in the Port of St. Petersburg that specialize in handling general and bulk cargo, food products, reefer cargo, roll-on/roll-off cargo, and containers. These berths have total berthing distance of 3436 meters (11,273 feet) with alongside depths from 9.3 to 11 meters (30.5 to 36.1 feet). Individual berths range from 107.6 to 281 meters (353 to 922 feet) in length.

Three berths in the Port of St. Petersburg are devoted to handling general and bulk cargoes. Berth 102 has berthing distance of 176 meters (577 feet) with alongside depth of 10.6 meters (34.8 feet). Berth 102A has berthing distance of 131 meters (429.8 feet) with alongside depth of 10.3 meters (33.8 feet). Berth 103 has berthing distance of 184 meters (603.7 feet) with alongside depth of ten meters (32.8 feet).

  • Oil / Liquid terminals

The Port of St. Petersburg began to handle oil and oil products in the Coal Harbor in the early 19th Century. The modern facilities at the Coal Harbor in the Port of St. Petersburg include an oil loading site, a terminal, a transshipment unit, a base, and a district. The Petersburg Oil Terminal has a total of seven wharves - two to receive sea tankers, two to receive river tankers, two universal wharves, and one fueling wharf.

Five railway overpasses with capacity for 108 tanks serve the Port of St. Petersburg's oil terminal. One overpass with capacity for ten railway tanks is dedicated for light oil products. Heavy oil products are handled by one overpass with capacity for 16 railway tanks, two overpasses with capacity for 36 railway tanks each, and one overpass with capacity for ten railway tanks.

In 2010, more than 8.7 thousand tons of oil products were delivered to the Port of St. Petersburg oil terminal by rail.

The tank farm at the oil terminal in the Port of St. Petersburg has a tank farm with capacity for 354 thousand tons. Of this capacity, there are 303 thousand cubic meters (almost two million barrels) are dedicated to heavy oil products, and 51 thousand cubic meters (about 321 thousand barrels) are for light oil products.

The Port of St. Petersburg Oil Terminal has six wharves. With alongside depth of 11 meters (36.1 feet), three of these wharves handle diesel fuel and fuel oil. Wharf 112-A, has berthing distance of 175 meters (574 feet). Wharf 112- B, has berthing distance of 101.78 meters (333.9 feet), and Wharf 112-V, has berthing distance of 127.16 meters (417.2 feet). Wharves 112-A and 112-V serve sea tankers of up to 40 thousand DWT. Three wharves are dedicated to handling fuel oil. Wharf PNT-1 has berthing distance of 178.2 meters (584.6 feet) with alongside depth of 5.8 meters (19 feet). Wharf PNT-2 has berthing distance of 169 meters (554.5 feet) with alongside depth of 5.8 meters (19 feet). Accommodating sea tankers of up to 100 thousand DWT, Wharves PNT-3 and PNT-4 have berthing distance of 470.2 meters (1543 feet) with alongside depth of 11 meters (36.1 feet). Fueling operations are performed at all wharves except PNT-3 and PNT-4.

  • Ro/Ro terminals

In early 2009, the first stage of the roll-on/roll-off terminal in the Port of St. Petersburg was completed, giving capacity for one million tons of cargo per year. The terminal can handle all types of roll-on/roll-off cargo including cars, wheeled equipment, roll-trailers, and caterpillar vehicles that are then transported by truck or railway. The terminal can store up to three thousand units of equipment at the same time. In 2011, the terminal handled 960 thousand tons of roll-on/roll-off cargo.

The first phase of the Port of St. Petersburg's car terminal was completed in 2008. With a total area of five hectares, the car terminal has capacity for annual throughput of 80 thousand cars and can store up to 1900 cars. The terminal has a state-of-the-art information system that supports monitoring and planning of acceptance procedures, shipping services, and yard-shifting operations. Vessels can be unloaded within 12 hours at this Port of St. Petersburg terminal. Two wharves, both with alongside depth of 7.6 meters (24.9 feet) in the Port of St. Petersburg are dedicated to handling automobiles. Wharf 67 has berthing distance of 162 meters (531.5 feet), and Wharf 67 has berthing distance of 78.6 meters (257.9 feet).

Sea Passenger Terminal<br>Port of St. Petersburg

Sea Passenger Terminal
Port of St. Petersburg

Photo by Drozdov VA

  • Cruise terminals

The Port of St. Petersburg is a popular and busy destination for the cruise industry. The Sea Passenger Port of St. Petersburg covers an area of 33.04 hectares including 3.04 square kilometers (1.17 square miles). It has seven berths with a total length of 2172 meters (7126 feet). The Sea Passenger Port of St. Petersburg is located on the western area of Vasilievsky Island in the Port of St. Petersburg. The Passenger Port can accommodate vessels to 320 meters (1050 feet) in length and 42 meters (137.8 feet) in width with a draft of 8.8 meters (28.9 feet). Cruise Terminal Number 1 is located at berths 6 and 7. Cruise Terminal Number 2 is located at berths 4 and 5. The Ferry Terminal is located at berths 2 and 3.

Aquabus station near the Lenin Square, Saint-Petersburg

Aquabus station near the Lenin Square, Saint-Petersburg

Photo by Drozdov VA

  • Rail and intermodal connections

The Oktyabrskaya (October) Railway serves the Port of St. Petersburg and is part of the Russian Railways (RZhD), the national rail carrier for the Russian Federation. The second largest rail network in the world, RZhD operates more than 86 thousand kilometers (53 thousand miles) of carrier and industrial routes. The October Railway is Russia's oldest railway, stretching from the Leningrad Terminal in Moscow to beyond the Arctic Circle in Murmansk. The October Railway has more than 10 thousand kilometers (6.2 thousand miles) of rail, and its headquarters are located in the Port of St. Petersburg.

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