OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2009. OAO SUEK staged a presentation of the Vanino bulk carrier terminal (at Muchka Bay, the Khabarovsk Territory) for representatives of Japanese corporations.

The event was attended by delegates from at least 30 various Japanese corporations mainly representing the sector of electric power generation and cement making, as well as trade houses and ship companies, with the majority of them being SUEK's existing partners. The attendees included representatives of TOHOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., SUMITOMO OSAKA CEMENT CO., HOKKAIDO ELECTRIC POWER CO, CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO, KYUSHU ELECTRIC POWER CO., SUMITOMO CORPORATION, TAIHEIYO CEMENT CORPORATION, SOMA KYODO POWER COMPANY, CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., NIPPON STEEL, MITSUBISHI Corp., JOBAN JOINT POWER CO., KAWASAKI KINKAI KISEN KAISHA, MITSUI O.S.K. KINKAI, MITSUI O.S.K. LINE, NYK GLOBAL BULK CORPORATION, NYK LINE, DAIICHI.

At the follow-up discussion the representatives of the Japanese corporations noted a high technological level of the terminal and a good quality of the cleaned coal shipped through it. To be specific, Mr. Kenji Takasawa, the chief managing director and fuel department general manager at TOHOKU ELECTRIC POWER has observed that as the Vanino bulk carrier terminal was launched, the quality of the supplied coal noticeably improved through decreased content of foreign matter in it. In his turn, Mr. Fukuichi Sekine, Director of SUMITOMO OSAKA CEMENT CO., the company which apart from Tohoku Electric Power is a major consumer of SUEK supplied coal in Japan, also noted the terminal's excellent technological capacity ensuring proper quality of coal processing.

The Vanino bulk carrier terminal was built by SUEK to eliminate the shortage of port capacities in the East of the country and serves for shipping coal from SUEK operations to the expanding Asia Pacific market. The terminal designed for the annual throughput of 12 mln tonnes was launched in late 2008. To ship the coal from the port SUEK has entered into a number of long-term charter contracts for ice class reinforced Panamax dry bulk carriers, including a 10 year contract with OAO Sovcomflot.