Russian logistics company Ultramar LLC is reported to have launched the rail link with its new transshipment terminal for fertilizers and iron ore raw materials under construction in the Russian Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga. The first freight train is reported to have arrived at the site this week.
The first phase of the terminal will see annual throughput capacity of 5 million mt, rising to an envisaged 12 million mt/y once fully operational.
Once commissioned, the new terminal will eliminate the shortage of port transshipment in the Russian northwest, according to Ultramar.
Russian fertilizer groups PhosAgro and Acron last year inked deals for the transshipment of some of their products through the new terminal. PhosAgro’s transshipments at the time of the contract signing were expected to begin in mid-2021 (GM June 14, 2019).
PhosAgro already transships product via the existing Smart Bulk Terminal at Ust-Luga port, put into operation in 2015 with fertilizer handling capacity of 1-1.5 million mt/y.
Acron Group and Ultramar signed a transshipment agreement and warehouse leases at Ust-Luga, also in June 2019 (GM June 14, 2019). The deal provides for the long-term transshipment of over 1.2 million mt/y of fertilizer. The two companies have also executed a lease agreement for four warehouses in the port, each with a capacity of approximately 140,000 mt, that are scheduled for commissioning in the second-half of 2021.
Uralchem inked a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) with Ultramar in November 2018 for potential transshipment of some of its mineral fertilizers via the new fertilizer terminal (GM Nov. 2, 2018). However, it could not be confirmed by press time whether the MOC has since been firmed up.
EuroChem AG is planning to build a transhipment terminal in Ust-Luga, and earlier this month the project was reported to have secured approval for the design and estimates by the St. Petersburg branch of Russia’s Main State Expert Appraisal Department, according to Russia’s AK&M Information Agency, citing a department statement (GM June 19, p. 27).
But it is unclear if the terminal project is one that EuroChem is going it alone on, or whether it has partners, including Ultramar. EuroChem told Green Markets last weekthat itis not making any comment on developments concerning its planned Ust-Luga terminal at the present time.