Press Conference Dedicated to the Results of Navigation of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg in 2019
24 October 2019
Today, on October 24, the TASS Information Agency Press Center welcomed a press conference on the results of passenger navigation of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg in 2019.
V.A. Kashirin, Director General of Passenger Port of St. Petersburg “Marine Façade” PLC, summed up the cruise navigation of the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg in 2019, having noted an increase in the passenger traffic by 4% as compared to the previous year. During the navigation period, the Port accommodated 265 cruise liners, on board of which 647,640 passengers in total arrived at St. Petersburg. From March to September this year, 68 ships with 165,790 passengers called the Marine Station operated by the Port since November 2018.
The press conference outlined the plans for 2020: The Passenger Port plans to accommodate 11 new ships; it also announced the vessel calls of the most successful ferry operator in the Baltic region – Tallink Group. Based on the existing call schedule, the passenger traffic is expected to increase in 2020 to 648,000 passengers and 258 vessel calls. A slight decrease in the number of calls is due to global trends in increasing ship dimensions.
V.A. Kashirin also stated that the 339-meter long “Freedom” class ships will enter the Baltic Sea region in 2020. The 348-meter long “Quantum” class ships are also expected to call in the future, and to ensure it, the required work is underway. In view of the increase in ship dimensions, the Port has already implemented the first stage of the project for the reconstruction of Berth No. 7 with the construction of offshore bollards. This made it possible to extend the berth space for the simultaneous berthing of two ships 330 and 294 meters long. The investments in the first stage of reconstruction amounted to 65 million rubles. The completion of the second and third stages of the offshore bollards construction will increase the total berth space by 108 meters for safe berthing and moorage of two ships up to 333 meters long each.
The press conference especially appreciated the current activities of “PP of SPb MF” PLC as part of the social, educational, and sports life of St. Petersburg: organization and holding of the annual festival “Nautical Mile” with the support of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of St. Petersburg and the Administration of the Vasileostrovsky District; opening of a multifunctional sports and recreation center in the Port territory; participation in creating the world’s largest Memorial Museum of the History of Northern Convoys; implementation of the project to restore the memorial to I.I. Chagin, Rear Admiral of the Navy of the Russian Empire and the Battle of Tsushima participant.
E.V. Pankevich, the Chairman of the Committee for Tourism Development of St. Petersburg, congratulated the Port representatives on the successful completion of the navigation season and emphasized the important niche of the cruise segment in tourism, which ensures an important revenue to the City. He also noted an excellent and well-coordinated work of the Port representatives and the Administration of the city of St. Petersburg, which resulted in the important and long-awaited introduction of an electronic visa. This instrument is another step towards creating a cruise start and end port in the territory of “Marine Façade.”
E.V. Batrakov, Deputy Director of the St. Petersburg State-owned Institution “External Transport Agency,” raised the issue of admitting cruise ships through passenger terminals located on Leytenanta Schmidta and Angliyskaya embankments. He designated the main task: to preserve and to modernize the existing infrastructure of two embankments in cooperation with the Passenger Port. It should be recalled that, in order to ensure an uninterrupted operation of berthing facilities during the navigation period of 2019, the Transport Committee, in cooperation with “External Transport Agency,” “Rosmorport,” and Passenger Port of St. Petersburg “Marine Façade” PLC, developed a roadmap for a stage-by-stage transfer of berthing facilities to St. Petersburg from the ownership of the Russian Federation. The design documents of Rosmorport provide for the landing stage reconstruction on Leytenanta Schmidta Embankment; the second stage includes the landing stage reconstruction on the Angliyskaya Embankment.
