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Russia’s NUTEP terminal, located in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, has started its new 341m quay expansion project with the first piles being driven after two years of planning and approvals.

The new deepwater berth, scheduled for completion in 2018, will have a depth of 15.6m, compared with the current two berths of 12.3m.

The project will also increase LOA (load line) to 320m from 270m which will allow 8,000 – 10,000 TEU container ships to make regular year-round ice-free calls to the Russian port for the first time.

“The new deepwater quay will alter the status quo on the Black Sea and change existing supply chain networks in the region. It will reduce both shipping and terminal costs for clients and increase delivery speed by 4-12 days for cargo headed for Russia,” Konstantin Kalugin, CCO of NUTEP, says.

The 26.5 hectare NUTEP terminal will double in capacity to handle 700,000 TEU per annum as part of the project.

NUTEP, a subsidiary of DeloPorts and a sister company to multimodal transport specialist Ruscon, is already the largest container terminal in the port but currently handles most deepsea cargo via transshipment at Istanbul or Piraeus.