The Regional Management Center hosted a working meeting between the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, and representatives of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal LLC, headed by CEO Andrey Bunakov. Following the results of the working meeting, the parties signed an agreement on the intention of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal company to build a multifunctional complex for transshipment of mineral fertilizers, petroleum products, as well as container and other cargo on the territory of the new Lavna port.
"Together with our Belarusian partners, as part of fulfilling the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, we have fixed in the agreement the launch of work on the construction of a large terminal for transshipment of goods that are produced on the territory of the Republic of Belarus. This event was preceded by the painstaking joint work of the team from the Republic of Belarus and the team of the Government of the Murmansk region to assess the land and railway infrastructure. This issue was worked out during the visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko. We have gone through all the parameters in detail and decided to move towards the implementation of the project for the construction of a new powerful port," Andrei Chibis said.
The head of the region noted that the construction of a marine terminal for transshipment of goods will increase the investment attractiveness of the Murmansk region, as well as create new jobs.
"The construction of a port for the Murmansk Region is, among other things, the development of major investment projects, increasing the capacity of the railway infrastructure. Currently, the possibility of transshipment of 25 million tons of cargo per year is being considered. Of course, investments in this project will be very large," the governor noted.
The integrated development of the Murmansk seaport and the Murmansk transport hub is part of the work of the regional government to implement the Arctic Zone Development Strategy approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2020. The Republic of Belarus will receive a year–round transport corridor for the access of its goods and cargoes to world markets, and the Kola Arctic Region will receive a new impetus to economic development.
Andrey Bunakov, General Director of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal, stressed that the construction of a marine cargo transshipment terminal would expand the export potential of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation and provide access to the world Ocean via the Northern Sea Route.
"Having such an alternative as a non-freezing port in Murmansk is strategically important for us. It is too early to talk about the cost of the project itself, but as for the volume of transshipment, we plan to provide a design solution of 25-30 million tons per year. It will be a multimodal complex, we are counting on different cargoes, and we are also considering the possibility of hosting a container terminal. We have set ourselves a tight deadline both for the development of the project and for the commissioning of the first facilities. We assume that the first shipments will start arriving in 2028," Andrei Bunakov said.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /