OREANDA-NEWS. October 13, 2009. The presentation ceremony marked the launch of North Eastern Shipping Company’ operation. The event was held at the Grand Meeting Hall of the Administration of Kamchatskiy Region in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Among the guests and participants of the ceremony there were representatives of the Administration of  Kamchatskiy region together with Vice-Governor Sergey Pakhomov, the members of the Zakonodatelnoe Sobranye (Legislative Board) of Kamchatskiy region together with the Vice-speaker Valeriy Raenko as well as representatives of the Administrative bodies supervising energy, transport, logistics  and shipping industries, mass-media and others.

Within the framework of the ceremony the focus was made of the report on the company’s operation principles, structure, its goals and perspectives in the sphere of maritime shipping and logistics, management policies, social welfare projects and other aspects of the new establishment. In the discussion which followed the report  the participants dwelled upon the aspects related to the development of the transport infrastructure, industries and economy, as well as the development of the region in general, which the new shipping company is expected to foster.

North Eastern Shipping Company was registered on the 14th of August earlier this year. The idea to establish a shipping company in Kamchatskiy region was set force by the Group Tranzit DV in the beginning of this year. The project was introduced to the local Administration at the Workshop of the supporters of the real economy strategic enterprises of  Kamchatskiy region, where it was thoroughly surveyed and finally approved on the 14th of May, 2009. The creation of the own shipping company in Kamchatka was considered by the local authorities and business people to be the strategy step forward in the economic revitalization of the region.

North Eastern Shipping Company was organized on the material base of the shipping company “Tranzit-Sever-Vostok” which holds the leading position among the participants of the municipal North Supply program. For more than a decade the company “Tranzit –Sever Vostok” supplies the oil products to the Kamchatka region and Magadan, and since 2008 the company serves the Chukotka Autonomous region and ports along the North Seaway as well.

At present the fleet of North Eastern Shipping Company consists of nine vessels, total  DWT exceeding 100 000 mts. The fleet was gathered with the particular purpose for the North Supply program thus all the vessels are equipped for the work in Northern districts. In addition to this NESCO is the only company in the region that owns capsize oil tankers under the Russian flag, allowed to supply oil products to the northern parts of the Far East.

Mr. Igor Polchenko, the General Director of “Group Tranzit DV”, declared at the presentation: “Today one of the primary tasks in the development of the northern region is to make it less dependant on the outer sources of fuel oil. The strategy set for the NESCO takes this goal into consideration, the company is not only focused on the transportation of energy resources but it also tends to provide the transport accessibility to the region  in general. Today the most needed cargo in northern regions is energy resources. Tomorrow this may turn to be a source extracted from Kamchatskiy shelf. In addition to this Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy has all the features to become a port-hub handling the cargo flows of huge quantity and nomenclature. It is located on the cross-roads of the major transportation routs and is to take its place in the world-wide logistics. At present numerous efforts are made to develop the Northern Searoute not by chance, for it is obvious that it can become the most effective channel of cargo transportation between Europe and East Asia and America. Seen from this perspective the Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy should take all the advantages of its uniquely promising location.

It is worth mentioning that company’s business strategy, fostering NESCO to grow into the one logistics unit, will also help to solve two more urgent problems of the transport sector of the northern regions. One of them is the employment of the small vessels as an assistant fleet while supplying cargo to the unequipped shore berths and the second one is the launching of the local short-distance passenger and cargo transportation by sea.

Mr. Sergey Boldyrev, the General Director of NESCO also pronounced that "The major purpose of the NESCO establishment is to integrate Northern Territories and Kamchatskiy region in particular into the common national and international logistics net thus shortening the distances. At the highest levels of the state policy it is declared that it is a human, a person, a man who should be the top priority concern of all the projects. One may ask, what the creation and the development of NESCO may bring to a life of a man, of an average citizen of Kamchatskiy region? – First of all it will make the transportation and travelling easier, it will allow the shipment of any cargo to any destination point. We created the shipowning company to build-up the logistics in the region, to make it systemic, planned, organized, manageable. The Kamchatsky region and its citizens should not be distant and crucially isolated from the central parts of Russia and citizens there.

In terms of the Gross Regional Product turnover the creation of the shipowning company will increase the total figures by half percent, enlarge the tax return by 191ruble per each transported ton of cargo, and decrease fuel transportation costs by 9 persent. The rough estimations allow to expect as much as 18 million rubles of the additional profit to the budget coming as the result of the NESCO’s operation by the end of this year.

In addition to the abovementioned the revival of the shipowning business in Kamchatskiy region after the 15 year break will create additional workplaces for the native residents as well as start anew and promote the regional ship-repair facilities