OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2007. Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces it has acquired 100% of the Temryuk-Sotra seaport shares.

The acquisition is in line with Mechel’s further diversification of its coal and steel product traffic flows in developing its own transport infrastructure.

The Temryuk-Sotra seaport is located at the Taman shore of the See of Azov and is primarily utilized for small tonnage river-sea type vessels in the Southern Russia.

The company will specialize mainly in coal transshipment. The competitive advantages of the port of Temryuk are determined by its geographical location, proximity to sea communications, year-round navigation, and available railroad and highway accesses. Currently, with the existing depths, the port enables the use of river-sea vessels up to 5,000K tonnage, whose parameters correspond to the capabilities of the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and the mainland waterways in West Europe.

Mechel Management OOO Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Polin commented on the transaction, “In line with Mechel’s strategy to develop its global transportation scheme and expand geography of its logistic routes, we acquired the Temryuk-Sotra seaport in addition to the commercial ports of Posiet and Kambarka already owned by Mechel. This acquisition will provide us with even more capabilities to regulate logistics of our deliveries, including our export shipments, minimize dependence on transport market conditions, and deliver products from producer/seller to end consumers avoiding brokers, thus reducing our transportation costs, increasing flows of traffic, and expanding our sale markets.”