UAE-based port operator Gulftainer has secured a landmark agreement to co-develop and operate Ust-Luga Port near St Petersburg in Russia.
Gulftainer is expected to invest more than US$275 million into the terminal venture for development. Ust-Luga is a key port gateway into the heart of Russia's buoyant Baltic Western region and will provide an alternative to the relatively congested St Petersburg Port. Volumes through the Baltic have risen dramatically in recent years, but there is huge scope for growth as the ratio of containers handled to population is still only 30 per 1,000 people in Russia compared with 168 per 1,000 in the EU.
Gulftainer has declared its ambition that the Russia gateway terminal at Ust-Luga will set new standards of efficiency and productivity, aiming to handle 170 million tons of cargo when fully developed. The company is the largest private terminal operator in the world and will be the first port operator from the Middle East to invest in Russia's Baltic region
