Ministry of Transport has chosen investors for the port of Taman

The Ministry of Transport has chosen Kuzbassrazrezugl (KRU) by Andrei Bokarev, Metalloinvest by Alisher Usmanov, SUEK Andrei Melnichenko and Russian Railways as investors in the project for the construction of Taman dry-cargo port. A ministry spokesman told RBC that the Ministry of Transport "Rosmorport" sent these companies offers to buy a stake in the management company of the Taman port with investments in the first stage of 81 billion rubles. According to him, the agency expects a response from them at the beginning of this week. In the case of a positive response, the materials will be transferred to the Ministry of Transport and the government for a final decision. A source familiar with the Rosmorport proposals, told RBC that KRU, SUEK and Metalloinvest were offered to purchase 22.5% at the management company, the concessionaire will remain the same, and another 10% will go to Russian Railways.

Previously, the port project was estimated at 231 billion rubles, of which the first stage required 170 billion rubles. for the construction of seven terminals with a total freight turnover of 66.94 million tons. In addition to the two coal terminals Kuzbassrazrezugl and SUEK, it was planned to build an EFKO grain terminal on 20 mln tons, SDS-Ugol coal terminal (5 mln tons), as well as Rosneft subsidiaries RN-Bunker bunker base (0.9 mln tons) and Rostec special purpose terminal. The Ministry of Transport has not yet responded to the request of RBC to reduce project parameters.

The concessionaire of the Taman port construction project is RMP-Taman (included in Rosmorport). As reported by RBC, in early June, KRU, SUEK, Siberian Business Union (VTS) (in terms of the construction of coal terminals) and Metalloinvest (metal freight terminal) confirmed their participation in the project.

In Metalloinvest, RBC confirmed the receipt of a draft memorandum of intent from Rosmorport. “The subject of the memorandum is the cooperation of Rosmorport, KRU, SUEK, Metalloinvest and Russian Railways as strategic investors for the Taman port construction project,” said a company spokesman. Currently, Metalloinvest is studying this document and preparing proposals for its improvement, he added. Representatives of Russian Railways and SUEK declined to comment. The KRU has not yet responded to the request of RBC.

The creation of the dry-cargo port Taman has been discussed for several years. In September 2013, it became known that the territory of the existing port of Taman would be expanded to implement the project. Due to the complex structure of the project, its development is delayed. The project documentation of the port was corrected both because of possible sanctions restrictions from the side of Ukraine, and for the withdrawal of the boundaries of the project of land belonging to the OTEC group of Michel Litvak.

The company Stroygazmontazh of Arkady Rotenberg, who was building the Crimean Bridge nearby, was going to become a contractor for the port construction. But, fearing another postponement, the contractor stated that he was ready to wait for the government’s decision only until the end of the second quarter of 2019.