The Great Port of St. Petersburg or Port of St. Petersburg is a major
seaport serving the city of
St. Petersburg in northwest
Russia. The port's water area is 164.6 km
2 (630,000 square meters). The mooring line is 31 km long and the water is deep at the port's deepest anchorages. Since 2011, the port has been under the authority of a state-owned enterprise (federal government agency), the Port Authority of the Great Port of St. Petersburg. This agency oversees commercial navigation in the seaport of St. Petersburg and beyond in the designated areas of responsibility of the Russian Federation.
History
In 1869,
Nikolay Putilov (1820–1880)—a Russian naval officer, mathematician, engineer, metallurgist, entrepreneur, co-founder of the
Obukhov factory, and founder of the
Putilov factory—began preparations for the Sea Port of St. Petersburg with a sea canal from Kronstadt to St. Petersburg. On June 13, 1874, Tsar
Alexander II approved a provision "On the Temporary Administration of the St. Petersburg Sea." The general direction of the channel was approved by Alexander on August 21 of the same year. On October 26, a contract for the production of works and supplies on the St. Petersburg Canal was signed. N. I. Putilov "with his comrades" received a contract order for the works. After Putilov's sudden death, the project was completed by his companions and S. P. Maksimovich, assisted by the Finland Swedish engineer . On May 15, 1885, the channel was opened to the passage of ships, and a new Maritime Trade Port was opened.
Putilov was buried, at his request, on the bank of the Ekateringofka River on Gladky Island, commanding a view over his factory, his port, and the Morskoy Canal. A chapel by architect F. S. Kharlamov was erected on his grave. His remains were re-buried in the crypt of St. Nicholas Church in 1907, which was built by architect V. A. Kosyakov in 1901–06 on what is today Stachek Avenue. His grave was destroyed in 1951.
General information
The central unit of the Great Port of St. Petersburg is located on and around the islands of the
Neva River
The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...
Delta, in the Nevsky Lip of the eastern part of the
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
, an arm of the
Baltic Sea. The port includes the berths for maritime trade; forest, fish and river ports; an oil terminal; shipbuilding, ship repair and other industries; a sea passenger terminal; a river passenger terminal; piers at
Kronstadt and
Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...
; and the Gorskaya and Bronka facilities. They are connected by an extensive system of
channels and fairways. The sea trade port includes about 200 berths with depths of up to . It is divided into four districts. The container terminal includes berths 82–87, and both
container ships and
roll-on/roll-off vessels are accepted for processing.
The first and second areas of the seaport are served by the New Port railway station, the third and fourth by the Avtovo railway station.
The port fleet includes service and support vessels belonging to various organizations, including more than twenty
tugs
A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...
of various capacities,
icebreakers
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
,
oil harvesters,
water cannon, boat collectors, boaters,
pilot boats
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...
, raid boats,
fireboats, and
barges.
Composition
The Great Port of St. Petersburg includes:
* Pools:
** East
** Baroque
** Passenger
** Forest Maul Raid
** Coal Harbour
*
Vasileostrovsk cargo port
* Berths in Kronstadt
* Berths in Lomonosov
* Bronka deepwater port
Operations
Oil products, metals, forest products, containers, coal, ore, chemical cargoes, and scrap metal are loaded in the port of St. Petersburg. The cargo turnover in January–February 2016 amounted to 7.5 million tons, down 7.0% compared to the same period in 2015.
The main stevedoring companies operating in the port are the Seaport of St. Petersburg, NEVA-METALL, Baltic Bulker Terminal, Moby Dick LLC, St. Petersburg Petroleum Terminal, First Container Terminal, and Petrolesport.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Petersburg, Big Port Of
Ports and harbours of Russia
Transport in Saint Petersburg
Water transport in Russia