The first shipment of coal for export was loaded at the Lavna port in the Murmansk region. The command to start was given by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
"The opening of the terminal will be a good contribution to increasing the capacity of our Arctic ports and creating additional opportunities for the coal mining industry," the head of state said.
The ceremony was also attended by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Roman Starovoit, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Andrey Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region, and Evgeny Dietrich, General Director of GTLK.
"In 2023, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin opened the Murmansk transport hub. This became a truly significant event: a railway appeared on the other side of the Kola Bay, which was necessary to ensure full-fledged transport accessibility of enterprises and efficient cargo logistics. And today is a new historical stage! The work of the Lavna seaport, the first built in the Murmansk Region since Soviet times, has been launched. It will become an important link in the Northern Sea Route and significantly expand Russia's export potential," said Andrey Chibis.
Recall that the issue of activating the Murmansk transport hub development project has been repeatedly raised by Governor Andrey Chibis. Following a number of working meetings, the support of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, was received, and all decisions were made to complete the railway and create a powerful logistics hub. The new Lavna commercial port is one of the key infrastructure facilities for the Murmansk Region and the Russian economy, and an important Arctic transport hub providing access to the Great Northern Sea Route.
"The Lavna Commercial Seaport is an anchor project of the Murmansk transport hub, which "pulls up" all the related infrastructure and takes it to a new level in the region. Different modes of transport are linked in one multimodal project. GTLK is an investor in the terminal complex, Rostransmodernization is responsible for the short–range approaches, Russian Railways is responsible for the modernization of its lines on long-range approaches. With the launch of Lavna, the Murmansk transport hub will become one of the leading logistics hubs in Russia. And it will contribute to the development and provision of cargo traffic on the Great Northern Sea Route," Roman Starovoit said.
The port will help open up new export routes for Russian coal due to unhindered access to the neutral waters of the World Ocean. Another advantage of the port is its deep water (21 meters offshore), which allows Lavna to receive large–tonnage vessels. In addition, the port is ice-free and does not require the operation of icebreakers.
Lavna is a large–scale and technologically advanced project based on a public-private partnership. Within the framework of the project, GTLK is responsible for the construction of the port complex and investment management. Almost 90 billion rubles have been invested in the construction of the coal terminal, which was invested by Gazprombank and VEB.Russian Federation and GTLC. The financial model of the complex is formed with a margin, taking into account market fluctuations, and ensures a return on investment. Even at the construction stage, we guaranteed the loading of the complex thanks to ship-or-pay agreements with shippers – an unprecedented case for Russia. The planned transshipment volume of the terminal is 18 million tons per year, with an increase in the future to 24 million tons without significant additional investments," Evgeny Dietrich reported.
The Lavna coal terminal is one of the most modern transshipment complexes in Russia. It is planned to create more than 650 jobs at the terminal.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /