Russia is implementing several projects to build or re-purpose port terminals for transshipping chemical cargo. These terminals are intended as alternatives to the port terminals in the Baltic States and Ukraine, through which Russia transshipped these cargoes before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Boris Tashimov, the deputy head of Russia’s Federal Sea and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot), spoke about these projects, the CFTS portal reports.
According to Tashimov, the development of the Baltic Bulk Terminal and the re-purposing of the JSC Seaport of Saint Petersburg are currently underway in the Great Port of Saint Petersburg. The transshipment capacity of the fertilizer-oriented terminals here will reach 15 million tons by the end of 2024.
Fertilizer transshipment terminals with a combined capacity of 20 million tons are also being built in the Port of Ust-Luga. The Eurochem and Ultramar companies are building the terminals, which are scheduled to be commissioned in 2025.
In addition, the Baltic Methanol company is designing a terminal for handling liquid chemical cargo. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2028.
The Port of Vysotsk is planning to convert the Vysotsk-Lukoil oil and gas company’s terminal to handle methanol. The terminal will be able to handle up to 1 million tons of cargo next year.
Finally, the transshipment of ammonia and urea is scheduled to begin in the Port of Taman by the end of 2023.
As the CFTS portal reported, the latter is expected to replace the Russian export route through the Port of Pivdennyi, which was suspended when Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began. The first phase of the terminal will have a capacity of 2 million tons per year. The second phase envisages an increase of the terminal’s capacity to 3.5 million tons of ammonia and 1.5 million tons of urea per year by December 2025.
The terminal will be the first of its kind in Russia because ammonia was previously transshipped in foreign ports (mainly Ukrainian ports).
As reported previously, the resumption of the transit of Russian ammonia through Ukraine has always been one of Russia’s demands during talks on the steady operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine. However, the further the Russians progressed in the construction of the Taman terminal, the more they avoided real negotiations on ammonia transit.
"It is 99.9% certain that Russia will leave the Grain Initiative in July. Two major factors, in my opinion: Erdoğan has successfully won the election. Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin has reported to Putin that the terminal for exporting ammonia from Russia is almost complete, which means that the Togliatti - Odesa ammonia pipeline is no longer so important," said Olha Trofymtseva, an ambassador-at-large at the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry.
