EU accession brings mixed fortunes

Although the latter is the preferred alternative, Russia’s options in the Baltic are strictly limited. St Petersburg for example is heavily congested, but still handles the majority of domestically imported and exported containers for European Russia. While plans to further develop the port are underway, it seems highly likely that forwarders will have to continue seeking out regional alternatives given the capacity shortfall at home.

Over the years, Poland, Finland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have played a key role in routing containers in and out of Russia. However, in May 2004, Poland and, more crucially, the Baltic States became official members of the European Union. While the fact of joining this exclusive club has, to some extent, boosted throughput, traffic from the former colonial master, Russia, still remains key to the prosperity of several of the container terminals in the Baltic States.

Estonia’s Muuga Container Terminal, which is the most northerly box-handling facility of the three Baltic States, saw throughput rise by 17.69% in 2004 to 111,599 TEUs and is expected to grow to 125,000TEUs this year.

Project development manager Aleksandr Artjomov doesn’t attribute much of that growth to Estonia’s accession to the European Union, since EU regulations effectively meant it lost its entire reefer box traffic because authorities in Estonia had been unable to get accredited veterinary and phytosanitary inspection facilities in place in time. Indeed, it is increased containerisation in neighbouring Russia that is helping to boost traffic, with transit boxes from Russia currently account for 50% of MCT’s total throughput.

“Our existing 130,000 sq metre terminal would be much too big, if we handled only local cargo. We very much need Russian container traffic to justify our existence, ” says Artjomov, who points out that an additional 50,000 sq metres will be tacked onto the existing terminal by March 2006. This is needed because the terminal development plan suggests that by 2015 capacity will have to reach 500,000TEUs.

Significantly, Artjomov sees his own role as one of trying to tempt deepsea lines to introduce calls at Muuga in addition to retaining the existing six feeder services. “We are deepening our draught from 12.5 metres to 14 metres. This, we hope, could result in services currently calling at St Petersburg, which has 11 metres draught, to divert here. Unlike there, congestion here is minimal and our tariffs are much more competitive, ” he stresses. Furthermore, at Muuga truck turnaround times (including all Customs clearance) average one hour compared with up to 24 hours in St Petersburg.

MCT has recently ordered a post-Panamax gantry crane from Kone capable of spanning 13 rows of stowed containers which will join an existing post-Panamax unit and two Liebherr MHCs in July 2006.

Kalmar is also to supply two RTGs and several shuttle carriers.

Artjomov claims up to 40 moves per crane hour can be achieved on the larger Maersk (1,000TEU) and MSC (1,400TEU) vessels, where box exchanges involve just 250 moves. However, the terminal averages 20-25 moves per hour overall. In order to attract new services, a shipping line would need to be able to load or discharge at least 30% of its total cargo at MCT, he says.

A new shuttle train service to Moscow to be introduced in the near future should, among other initiatives, help Muuga attract its first deepsea call within two to three years says Artjomov, pointing out that the new terminal development plan adopted in December 2004 was predicated on this.

SAFEGUARDING AGAINST CORRUPTION Meanwhile, Riga’s Baltic Container Terminal, wholly owned by Marin Hili’s Malta-based Hili Company, achieved growth of 15% last year to 150,016TEUs. The facility makes much of its western-style management which it claims helps safeguard the terminal against corruption.

However, during the Soviet period Riga was designated as the Baltic container outlet and as such enjoys high-class road and rail links with the surrounding region. The inflow of new capital has resulted in the adoption of Navis Spars to oversee what is a 325,000TEU capacity yard where four Kone RMGs undertake stacking. The 450m quay, which has a restrictive 10 metre draught, is worked by three 32 metre-outreach Kone gantry cranes.

Of the three Baltic States, Lithuania has clearly done best from EU membership, boosting throughput at its Klaipeda seaport by 47% in 2004 to 174,251TEUs. Two operators control box traffic: Klaipedos Terminalo Grupe (KTG) and KLASCO Container Terminal. KTG grew by 68% in 2004 to 104,473TEU while md Vaidotas Shileika forecasts a further increase of 15% in 2005 to 120,000TEUs.

However, EU membership has not been entirely without its problems.

The opening up of the land borders has resulted in the partial switch of cargo away from ro-ro services towards more use of road haulage.

Nevertheless, overall trade and profit has risen considerably during the initial year following accession, while the port as a whole continues to benefit from better rail links with Belarus.

Russian transit trade is “insignificant”, as Lithuania’s larger neighbour continues to favour its own domestic ports in the region wherever possible. Excessive rail charges to and from Klaipeda also discriminate against use of this transport mode to such an extent that only a very small part of the container traffic to the adjacent Russian enclave of Kaliningrad currently passes through the port.

“We recently launched a new shuttle rail service between Klaipeda and Moscow but the train travels virtually empty, ” cites Shileika as an example of the languid state of cross-border trade. A restrictive 8.5 metres draught means that deepsea vessels simply cannot call despite the fact that KTG’s equipment is more than capable of handling them. The largest visiting vessels are in the order of 1,000TEUs.

The port authority has contracted a Japanese consultancy to undertake a feasibility study for a proposed new harbour to the north of the existing port which would have 17 metres draught. But realistically, notes Shileika, this would not be available for at least 2025 years. KTG nevertheless anticipates a significant buildup in traffic over the coming years. Two MHCs will be reinforced at the end of the year by two quayside gantry cranes, as KTG takes over the container handling facilities in a neighbouring terminal. Productivity is currently 20 moves per crane hour, while the average box exchange amounts to 170 moves, although Shileika emphasises that the terminal is interested in attracting additional services, even if the box exchange is smaller.

LOOKING EAST Klasco, Klaipeda’s other stevedoring company, has also registered significant throughput growth in the last two years. An increase of 103% saw traffic rise from 34,492TEUs in 2003 to 70,181TEUs last year. And company spokesperson Vida Borteliene notes that following throughput of 67,249TEUs in the first three quarters, the terminal is on course to handle approximately 90,000TEUs by year end.

Eastbound container traffic has been on the increase for a number of years, she notes. This is because the economies of the post-Soviet Bloc countries of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as those in the Caucasus region, are evolving to meet the demands of world markets, with a concomitant build-up in the import-export of consumer and industrial goods.

“Joining the EU has also improved trade, ” she notes, adding that, while statistics are not available, trade with Russia is an important traffic generator too.

Nevertheless, container vessels calling at Klasco are no larger than feeders, this limitation being a function of available draught alongside the quay, rather than crane outreach Asked to assess productivity at the Klasco terminal, Borteliene says this very much depends on the vessel and also on factors such as hatch cover moves and the type of twist-locks being deployed. Nevertheless, Klasco is confident of averaging around 25 moves per crane hour in the summer and 18 moves in winter, when handling conditions become notably more difficult alongside its 452m long quay.