On October 14 2017, the «Mineral Fertiliser 2017» conference organised by CREON Chemicals was held in Moscow.
Morstroytechnology senior specialist Olga Gopkalo gave a presentation at the conference on the development of port infrastructure for the handling of mineral fertiliser cargoes. Today, the situation looks fairly complex: despite the relatively adverse market conditions in recent years, industry analysts, economists and experts are all of the opinion that long-term demand for mineral fertilisers will only increase. This is the global picture, if one thinks in terms of what will be in 10, 15 or 20 years’ time, if not further still.
Putting transport infrastructure in place also takes time, and once facilities are built they generally take decades to pay for themselves. Therefore it is entirely logical to start thinking now about whether port and terminal infrastructure will be able to service the growth in Russian mineral fertiliser production.
If one looks at port statistics for the last 10 years, it can be seen that shipments of Russian mineral fertiliser through ports in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States increased by 11% over the period. However, the increase of Russian fertiliser shipments through the ports of the Baltic States taken separately was higher still – by almost half as much again (45%).
Furthermore, this has taken place against the background of Russian government policy to restore the processing of Russian goods to Russian ports.
The reasons that lie behind these events were examined in the presentation, excerpts of which will be published in the December issue of RZhD-Partner.