Monthly Archives: April 2022

Vladivostok Seaport Optimistic with Container Turnover in 2022

April 13 2022   

After the departure of foreign companies, the number of FESCO ship calls increased

PJSC “Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port” (VMTP), part of the FESCO Transportation Group plans to process 757 thousand TEU in 2022, said Mrs. Elena Kazarina, Director of VMTP Commercial Department. According to her, in the I quarter of 2022, the port container turnover grew by 10%.

“We plan to handle the same volume of cargo in TEU as in 2021 (757 thousand TEU – ed. note), there is a drawdown for a certain period of time, but by the end of the year it can be made up. The processing of the ships in the port has increased,” added Mrs. Kazarina.

The total cargo turnover of VMTP in 2021 increased by 16% (in tons) compared to the level of 2020: cargo transshipment amounted to 13.3 million tons, container turnover – 757 thousand TEU (+13%).

PJSC “Far Eastern Shipping Company” is the parent company of the FESCO group, a private transport and logistics company in Russia with assets in the field of port, railway and integrated logistics business. The Group owns VMTP, the railway operator “Transgarant”, and a 50% stake in the fitting platform operator “Russkaya Troika” (a joint venture with “Russian Railways”). FESCO manages about 36 thousand containers. The group’s fleet includes 20 transport vessels.

The main indirect shareholders of FESCO are Mr. Andrey Severilov – 23.8% of shares, Mr. Mikhail Rabinovich – 26.5%, Mr. Ziyavudin Magomedov – 32.5%. About 17% of the shares are owned by other minor shareholders or are in free float.

Source: https://portnews.ru/news/328024/ 

Logistics companies have found a way to circumvent EU sanctions

April 12 2022

The situation with the introduction of the fifth package of sanctions by the European Union worried logistics companies involved in import-export operations, but the situation is not too catastrophic, since the share of Russian and Belarusian carriers in the market for transportation from Russia to Europe and back was about 30%. Alexei Misailov, Business Development Director of “FM Logistic” in Russia, announced this on April 12 to REGNUM news agency. At the same time, according to him, even this share played a significant role, primarily in export shipments, and now many companies are looking for alternative options for maintaining existing routes.

“Currently, the use of transit countries (for example, Turkey, which, however, is longer and more expensive), is being considered, but the optimal solution seems to be one that would allow changing tractors at the border of Russia, Belarus and Europe. Legislatively, it is still possible and this measure will help to avoid a crisis in road freight traffic between Russia and the European Union,” the expert explained.

According to his estimates, it will take about two weeks to establish such seamless solutions between European, Russian and Belarusian carriers. In this case, the increase in delivery time will not exceed more than one day.

“Against the background of many days (4-5 days) of downtime at the borders awaiting inspection, this looks more than a compromise option. As for the cost of transportation, it can grow by 300-400 euros due to the use of border terminals for re-coupling trailers to new tractors,” Misailov added.

Recall that the EU stopped the passage of vehicles registered in Russia and Belarus from April 8.

Source: https://portnews.ru/digest/23116/

Sakhalin plans to build a shipyard in 2022

April 7 2022
The passenger and fishing fleet of the Sakhalin region will be replenished through the construction of a shipyard by the company, which is expected to start operating in 2022, governor of the Sakhalin Region Valery Limarenko told at the forum “Investment potential of the Kuril Islands” in Moscow.

According to the head of the region, the passenger and transport fleet, taking into account the implementation of shipbuilding projects, is sufficient for the needs of the region. This year the region received two ships that make regular transportation to the Kuril Islands. The construction of two more ships for the transport of trains on the Vanino-Kholmsk line is also expected.

In addition, the head of the Sakhalin Region added, that foundation stone for a shipyard is being laid this year together with Yumateks Rosatom. New shipyard will build tourist and coastal fishing vessels.

Source: https://portnews.ru/news/327749/

ExxonMobil freezes Far East LNG project

April 4 2022
ExxonMobil has frozen the Far Eastern LNG project in the port of De-Kastri, Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Mikhail Degtyarev said on the air of the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station.
As reported earlier, Exxon Neftegaz Limited (ENL, subsidiary of ExxonMobil, operator of the Sakhalin-1 project) launched a tender campaign in February 2022 to select contractors for the Far East LNG project. The company announced the search for contractors to assess the quality of building materials, as well as the search for manufacturers of reinforced concrete products.
The construction of an LNG plant with a capacity of 6.2 million tons per year in the area of the village of De-Kastri in the Khabarovsk Territory is planned to monetize gas reserves on the Sakhalin shelf as part of the Sakhalin-1 consortium.
The cost of the Far East LNG project, according to the Ministry of Energy, is estimated at $4.2 billion. The launch is scheduled for 2027-2028.
On March 2, ExxonMobil announced its withdrawal from the Sakhalin-1 project, refusing to invest in Russia “in response to recent events.” The Sakhalin-1 project involves ExxonMobil – with a share of 30%, SODECO (Japan) – 30%, Rosneft – 20%, ONGC (India) – 20%. The total reserves of the project fields are estimated at 307 million tons of oil and 485 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Source: https://portnews.ru/news/327533/ 

Extraordinary Antarctica heatwave, 70 degrees above normal, would likely set a world record

By Caitlin Kaiser and Angela Fritz, CNN

March 28 2022

Scientists were shocked this month when a research station in Antarctica reported extraordinarily warm weather.

The temperature at Concordia Research station atop Dome C on the Antarctic Plateau — typically known as the coldest place on Earth — surged to an astounding 11.3 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-11.5 Celsius) on March 18.

The normal high temperature for the day is around minus-56 Fahrenheit (minus-49 Celsius), which puts the March 18 reading at close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (around 38 Celsius) warmer than normal.

If the World Meteorological Organization actually tracked this particular metric, scientists say it would likely set a world record.

While 11 degrees Fahrenheit is not warm by any stretch, it is unheard of for this part of Antarctica, and 70 degrees above average is similarly astounding.

It would be as if the high temperature in Washington, DC, on Monday — normally 61 degrees — was an unthinkable 131 degrees. In reality, the warmest it’s ever been there on March 28 was 85 degrees.

The coldest place on Earth?

Concordia’s temperature was a record for the highest temperature not only in the month of March, but an “absolute record” for any month, according to Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist at Meteo-France, the French meteorology service.

And it wasn’t the only location to set record high temperatures that day.

Vostok, the Russian research base famous for logging the coldest temperature in the world, reported a high temperature of zero degrees Fahrenheit — 63 degrees warmer than the average for the day. The temperature shattered the station’s previous record for March by almost 27 degrees.

With more than 60 years of data, this record “is unheard of in the history of climatology,” according to a Meteo-France analysis.

The extreme warmth in Antarctica raises concerns about long-term effects on the ice, particularly if it persists. An ice shelf in Antarctica nearly the size of Los Angeles disintegrated within days of extraordinary warmth on the continent.

Commentary. One gets the impression that humanity today prefers to deal with momentary problems – the rights of the LGBT community, endless sanctions, “pandemics” (“we will all die!”), “cold” and “hot” conflicts, etc. The fight against global climate change has also become, in fact, another field of economic and political confrontation, in which technologically advanced countries seek to further increase their lead and bind the resources of third world economies to themselves, making them feel “guilty” for environmental pollution.

In fact, we do not really know how our small planet works, what happens in its core, on the ocean floor and in the atmosphere. Such anomalies as described in the article are quite possibly a reminder to all of us from the Creator: stop doing stupid things, move forward, develop knowledge.Otherwise, it will be too late…