The Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, held a working meeting with the Director General of a major Chinese port operator, Shandong Port Group LLC, Li Fengli. The parties discussed the most important areas for the development of cooperation on the expansion of existing logistics routes, as well as the opening of new cargo transportation corridors.
"The ice–free deep-sea port of Murmansk is the main port of the Russian Arctic, the starting point of the Northern Sea Route. It provides direct access to the World Ocean and to the NSR routes without passing through international straits. The port of Murmansk is the absolute leader in cargo turnover among the ports located along the route of the Northern Sea Route. Half of the cargo traffic of the ports of the Arctic basin falls on the port of Murmansk – this is about 49.5%," the governor said.
Andrey Chibis also noted that in 2022 the total cargo turnover of the port of Murmansk amounted to 56.28 million tons, showing an increase of 4.7 percent compared to the previous year.
Li Fengli stressed that the port of Murmansk opens up unique opportunities for the development of logistics, as it is able to work all year round and has no restrictions on the size of ships.
"We have goods that can be delivered to Russia through Murmansk. Now our ties are becoming closer. And we look forward to further cooperation," Li Fengli commented.
Li Fengli noted the strategic importance of Murmansk for the development of new logistics routes between Russia and China, using the capabilities of the NSR, and also expressed interest in developing this direction together with his Russian partner, the Delo Group of Companies.
"We have been united by trade relations with China for a long time, new markets for our companies are emerging. By the end of 2022, it ranks 4th among the region's trading partner countries. We plan to continue working on strengthening our cooperation," the governor said.
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Shandong Port Group was established in August 2019. It is located on the east coast of China in the lower reaches of the Yellow River and ranks 1st in terms of density and number of routes among the ports of Northern China. By the end of 2022, the capacity of the group's terminals reached 1.6 billion tons of cargo, container transshipment capacity exceeded 37 million TEU. The number of employees of the group exceeds 60 thousand people.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /