Harbour Master of port Kavkaz Yevgeny Tuzinkevich: “We are well prepared and experienced to take prompt decisions”

The accession of Crimea into the Russian Federation has made Kavkaz seaport authorities face new challenges: the port’s cargo and passenger turnover has multiplied. Harbour Master of port Kavkaz Yevgeny Tuzinkevich tells IAA PortNews about the ability of port facilities to cope with the growing load and about novelties introduced into the passenger ferry logistics.

– Mr. Tuzinkevich, could you, please, review the port results in the first quarter of 2015?

– In the first quarter of 2015, seaport Kavkaz handled 3.559 mln t of different cargoes, which is three times as much as in the same period of the previous year.

In the reported period, exports from port Kavkaz increased 2.5 times owing to the contribution of the offshore transshipment district enhanced amid favorable weather conditions. For the first time in the four-year period, storage vessels of port Kavkaz operated in winter with the non-stop navigation throughout the year. It should be attributed to both good weather and to the ability to handle cargoes delivered by river transport which earlier had to stop in winter when ice navigation period began.

QI imports plunged three time as the majority of former imports was the cargo bound for Crimea, a Republic within Ukraine. Transportation of coastal trade cargo jumped over 160 times from 11,800 t in QI'14 to 1,926,000 t in QI'15.

In the three-month period, bunker sales doubled to 84,500 t.

Passenger turnover surged 4.2 times: from 99,692 passenger in QI'14 to 417,643 passengers in QI'15.

In the reported period, port Kavkaz registered 2,846 calls, twice as much as in the same period of the previous year, when the port registered 1,481 calls.

– How does the offshore transshipment complex look like today? How many anchoring places are there?

– District No 2 opened at port Kavkaz offers 16 anchorage places for vessels with the draught of up to 16 m. Besides, for cargo flows from Kerch we will open a district No 3 able to handle vessels with the draught of up to 22 m as it is difficult for Suezmax vessels to call.

As of today, the third district is under mine clearing as it is a territory of residual mine threat. All in all, it will offer 16-18 places, four of them will be introduced within the first phase. Rosmorport FSUE is presently engaged in the process.

– What companies operate at the offshore transshipment complex this year?

– These are the companies handling oil products: Infotek Novo LLC, SVL MTS LLC, Solid STS. Grain is handled by EuroTEK-Universal, Linter, Transcargo and Universal Stevedoring Company. Besides, SVL MTS and EuroTEK-Universal handle sulphur. Last year, EuroTEK-Universal also handled fertilizers.

– What is the share of offshore transshipment in the port’s total throughput?

– To put it clear: last year port Kavkaz handled some 25 mln t including 17 mln t transshipped via offshore complex. As for this year forecast, I expect at least 20-25 mln t to be handled by the offshore transshipment complex. Those figures were announced when the companies were planning for the new year.

– Does it mean that offshore transshipment volumes will be comparable to the port’s total throughput in 2014?

–Exactly.

– How many operating berths are there at the ferry terminal of port Kavkaz? How many ferryboats are in operation?

– Auto/passenger ferry terminal offers four berths today: the third, the forth, the seventh and the eighth one. The fifth and the sixth berth ensure railway links with Crimea.

As of today, the ferry fleet consists of four large boats (Krym, Glykofiloza-II, Olympiada and Protoporus-IV) and four smaller ones (Nikolai Aksenenko, Sevastopol, Kerchensky-2 and Yeisk). In the future, we plan to additionally deploy from two to four large capacity ferryboats.

– How stable is the operation of the ferry service? Storm warning has been announced for today and tomorrow, do the ferries operate?

– Storm warning is announced if wind is stronger than 15 m/s. According to Port Kvkaz compulsory regulations, wind speed of 17 m/s is critical for auto/passenger ferry. So, storm warning does not always mean that ferries stop operation. We guarantee operation with the wind of up to 17 m/s, with a stronger wind our operation depends on actual weather conditions as each ferryboat has her own characteristics.

The service operates smoothly. It is proved by the first peak in 2015 – from May 1 till May 11. Of course, we were concerned about the congestion to repeat the situation of 2014. However, passenger traffic increased by 180% as compared with the period of May 1-11, 2014 without huge queues (from 64,628 passengers in 2014 to 120,662 passenger in the same period of 2015).

In 2014, motor transport carried 17,104 persons, in 2015 – 32,810 persons. The results have double almost everywhere without any transport collapse or huge queues due to improved logistics and increased number of ferries.

– How has the logistics changed?

– First of all, a ‘single ticket’ system has been introduced. ANO United Transport Directorate, a sole operator of the ferry service, is in charge of this system.

Secondly, vehicle accumulation facilities have been created. Earlier, people had to wait at the highway, it was very difficult, of course. Now we have several parking areas with normal conditions: the offer catering facilities, shower and toilet rooms. Law enforcement authorities are on permanent duty there. The first parking area is near Ilyich settlemen, the second one is on Chushka Split. There are also parking areas adjacent to the loading area. In the future, accumulation areas for cargo transport are supposed to appear near berth No 24-25.

We did not have this infrastructure last year and it is available today which lets prevent social stresses. There is no queue, people are calm and good-tempered.

– Several questions on port service. How many towing-and-tugboat companies operate at the port?

– Port Kavkaz enjoys services of six tugs of two companies: Anship LLC and FSUE Rosmorport. Also, some 10 tugboat companies are involved in offshore transshipment process: any non-self-propelled floating crane should be assisted by a tugboat, so they are permanently available. Total capacity of tugboats including those operating at the offshore complex is up to 3,500 h.p.

– How many bunker suppliers operate at the port? How many places are there for shipment of oil products?

–14 bunkering companies are represented at port Kavkaz. On the average, they sell 60,000-70,000 t of bunker per month. As compared with the previous year, bunker sales, driven by increased number of calls, have doubled. Only one place for shipment of oil products has remained at the port while there are no limits at the offshore complex – any of the 16 places can be used for bunkering.

– What about dredging at port Kavkaz? What is the scope? Is there a plan to increase the depth?

– Rosmorport is in charge of dredging. In 2014, it excavated 149,000 cbm of material with 155,000 cbm planned for 2015. Dredging operations are carried out regularly throughout a year.

The depth of the approach canal is maintained at the level of 6.5 m. Offshore area has difficult depths, maximum depth is 18.5 m, working draft is 16 m. It is a natural depth which is not supposed to be increased.

However, to accept vessels with working draft of 22 m we create the third offshore district with the depth of up to 24 m.

– The amount of vessels has increased at the port, transshipment volumes are growing… . What about the readiness of emergency and rescue means to cope with the load?

–Emergency and rescue means are the responsibility of Sea Rescue Service of Rosmorrechflot (Federal Marine and River Transport Agency).  At least three vessels are always on emergency alert. For example, as we are speaking now, the team consists of Mercury, Impulse and Zenith. They also supervise the compliance with Oil Spill Response Plan.

The companies operating at the offshore complex handle quite a lot of hazardous cargoes, they have OSRP of a federal level and consequently involve their own emergency and rescue means. According to OSRP, drills should be held once in three years. By the end of May the drills will be held by Gazpromneft Marine Bunker LLC and EuroTrans with the involvement of RosTransNadzor (Federal Agency for Transport Supervision), Prosecutor’s Office and other authorities.

I would like to emphasize that the emergency and rescue means available today are enough even amid the growing throughput.

– What is your forecast for 2015?

– If the port’s central district retains the volumes of the previous year, we can handle up to 30 mln t of cargo in 2015, including the volumes of the third cargo district. Port services and facilities can cope with such volumes.

As for the passenger service, we are likely to meet the challenges of the flow taking into consideration the number of ferryboats and enhanced facilities. May holidays confirm this: we have succeeded. We are well prepared this year and we have sufficient experience to take prompt decisions.

Interviewed by Elena Tkacheva

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