Black Sea NUTEP terminal plans expansion to meet accelerating growth

A MAJOR Black Sea container terminal operator, NUTEP, at Novorossiysk east of the Crimea, is expanding capacity to meet demand of its double-digit growth, said a company announcement.

NUTEP has three berths that run 754 metres and serve ro-ro vessels as well as containerships, attended to by three ship-to-shore cranes with a fourth on order. The new Liebherr post-Panamax crane is expected to be commissioned in September and will take the terminal's annual handling capacity up to 400,000 TEU.

Since May, NUTEP has won two new regional/common feeder services: United Feeder Service (UFS) that uses the single 1,022-TEU Volos to maintain its weekly Turkey/Black Sea service with the port rotation of Istanbul, Constanta, Poti, Novorossiysk and Istanbul.

The ARKAS Group's feeder specialist EMES is now linking NUTEP with two terminals in Istanbul, Marport and Mardas on a weekly basis using three 1,604-TEU ships: Claire A, Diane A and Wanda A. This service forms part of the larger ARKAS East Med-Russia Express service that calls at Novorossiysk, Marport, Gemlik, Izmir, Mersin, Famagusta, Alexandria, Marport and Evyap.

In the first five months of 2012, NUTEP handled 94,270 TEU, which was up 18.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2011. Its main customers are Maersk Line, CMA CGM, Admiral Container Lines and CSAV.

NUTEP is also expanding its landside operations to cope with the expected increase in traffic. The existing rail facility is being relocated and expanded to provide a five-track railway park. The new park will facilitate the handling of two block trains simultaneously, compared to just one at the present time. With the relocation of the existing rail tracks, it will expand its intake capacity from about 12,000 TEU to 20,000 TEU by early 2013.

Other Novorossiysk terminals include NLE and NCSP, which both belong to the holding company Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, are also considering expansion of capacity in the coming years, based mainly on the conversion of existing multi-purpose facilities to handle containers.

Timofey Telyatnik, chairman of NUTEP's parent GC Delo, Timofey Telyatnik, said he planned to triple the capacity of the container terminal and, in addition, to double the capacity of the grain terminal, which they also operate.