The new port will be built in Lavna on the western side of the Kola bay and is expected to provide a cheaper path to Europe and beyond for Kuzbassrazrezugol, Russia’s second-largest thermal coal mining company.
According to Head of the Lavna Trading Port Company Sergei Kropotov, all documents required for construction of the port are ready, The Moscow Times report.
Construction of the three-phase project will start in 2012. The first phase, shipping 6 million tons of coal, will be completed by the end of 2014.
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Thermal coal from the Kuzbass remains to be the main cargo exported to the EU countries from Murmansk port, making up some 80% of freight flows passing via Murmansk Commercial Sea Port, according to the website Portnews.ru. In 2009 the port handled 12.2 million tons of coal.
Kuzbassrazrezugol and the Siberian Business Union Holding each hold 50 percent of the Lavna project.
