Today, a working meeting of the Governor of the Murmansk Region Andrey Chibis and representatives of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal, headed by CEO Andrey Bunakov, was held at the Regional Control Center. Following the working meeting, the parties signed an agreement on the intention of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal to build a multifunctional complex for handling mineral fertilizers, oil products, as well as container and other cargo on the territory of the new Lavna port.

"With our Belarusian partners, as part of the implementation of the instructions of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, we secured in the agreement the launch of work on the construction of a large terminal for handling cargo produced in the Republic of Belarus. This event was preceded by painstaking joint work of the team from the Republic of Belarus and the team of the Murmansk Region government to assess the land plot and railway infrastructure. This issue was worked out during the visit of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Roman Golovchenko. We went through all the parameters in detail and decided to move forward with the implementation of the project to build a new powerful port," said Andrei Chibis.

The head of the region noted that the construction of a sea terminal for cargo handling will increase the investment attractiveness of the Murmansk region, as well as create new jobs. 

"The construction of a port for the Murmansk region is, among other things, the development of the most important investment projects, an increase in the capacity of the railway infrastructure. Now we are considering the possibility of handling 25 million tons of cargo per year. Of course, the investments in this project will be very large," the governor noted. 

The integrated development of the Murmansk seaport and the Murmansk transport hub is part of the work of the regional government on the implementation of the Arctic Zone Development Strategy, approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 2020. The Republic of Belarus will receive a year-round transport corridor for access of its goods and cargo to world markets, and the Kola Arctic - a new impetus for economic development.

The General Director of the Arctic Gate Marine Terminal Andrei Bunakov emphasized that the construction of a marine terminal for cargo handling will expand the export potential of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation and provide access to the world ocean via the Northern Sea Route.

"Having such an alternative as an ice-free port in Murmansk is strategically important for us. It is too early to talk about the cost of the project itself, but as for the volumes of transshipment, we plan to provide for 25-30 million tons per year in the design solution. This will be a multimodal complex, we are counting on different cargo, and we are also considering the possibility of placing a container terminal. We have set ourselves tight deadlines for both the development of the project and the launch of the first capacities into operation. We assume that the first cargo will begin to arrive as early as 2028," said Andrey Bunakov. 

/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /