Exclusive Interview on the Moscow Dredging Event

Preparations for the II International Forum of Dredging Companies which will be organized by the “PortNews” Media-Group and held in Moscow, Russia on February 19th 2015, are in full swing.

With less than three moths left to the event, Dredging Today took the opportunity to talk with PortNews Media Group General Director, Ms Elena Snitko about the upcoming conference.

DT: PortNews IAA, one of the largest media-groups in Russia, will be the organizer of the II International Forum of Dredging Companies. I’m sure our readers would like to know something about the company behind the event?

Ms Snitko: Information & Analytical Agency PortNews has been active in the media market of Russia for 10 years already. Over this period, the Agency’s key media resource – The PortNews – has become Russia’s most popular industry-focused media outlet in the sector of marine and river transport.

As of today, IAA PortNews is a part of a like-named media group comprising four specialized mass media. These resources allow for comprehensive accumulating and processing of information into a news content and analytics materials. Our newsmakers are owners and managers of companies involved in sea and river transport business, stevedoring activities, ports construction and port service.

Through an on-line communication with the industry representatives we can keep a close watch on market trends, provide the market with hot news and arrange actual conferences. We hold 5-8 conferences per year with the demand determined by the market players themselves.

DT: Official opening of the Forum is set for February 19th 2015, how preparations for the event are going?

Ms Snitko: Each event organized by IAA PortNews reflects the demand of the business or the desire of port authorities to discuss certain problems.

We conducted a survey of members of the I International Forum dredging companies, which we held in Moscow in February 2014 – we questioned all the largest dredging companies and Russia’s major commissioner of dredging works – federal state unitary enterprise Rosmorport.

All of them clearly voted for the second Forum. So today we can be proud with the strong support of our event by both the state and commercial companies. Quite a large pool of sponsors has been expanded with new participants and this year we are supported by Van Oord, Jan De Nul, Mordraga (DEME), Boskalis, DAMEN, Dredge Yard and HYDROMEC.

We are grateful to our partners for their confidence. We also wish to express our gratitude to FSUE Rosmorport, Transport Ministry of Russia, International Association of Dredging Companies, Russian Association of Commercial Sea Ports and Dredging Today.com for continued support of the International Forum of Dredging Companies traditionally held in Moscow.

DT: Were there any setbacks encountered during this project?

Ms Snitko: Fortunately, there were no setbacks so far. Of course, the experience of the First Forum lets us avoid certain problems in 2015. It was a challenging task for us, as organizers, to ensure the seating capacity of the hall selected for the Forum.

Registration of the delegates continued up to the last day, we could not reject anyone and we were highly concerned about the capacity of the hall to seat 180 people. This time we are getting prepared to influx of delegates in advance. I’m sure we will be able to ensure enhanced comfort for them.

DT: What are your expectations for this year’s event and will there be any new companies involved?

Ms Snitko: We expect personal participation of top managers representing the world’s major dredging companies. It will be an honor for us to welcome them to Moscow. Their activity schedule is extremely tight, indeed, therefore I would rather not name anybody for certain today.

But I can name the honored guests of the I Forum International Forum of Dredging Companies – Mr De Nul, Mr Van Oord, Deputy Transport Minister of Russia Victor Olersky (who in charge of the maritime sector), Director of deepwater port Taman Igor Rusu (the port is under construction on the Black Sea).

In 2015, we will further discuss new dredging technologies, construction of state-of-the-art dredging equipment, implementation of certain projects in Russia and other countries including the Arctic project of port Sabetta, a special attention focused on dredging at Russian rivers.

We expect the interest to our Forum among the professionals to stay high despite the political relations between Russia and the West. We also expect the geographic footprint of our delegates to expand next year: representatives of Russia’s Far East ports are to come.

DT: Russia, for the first time in the country’s history, has embarked on some large scale dredging projects. What are the biggest projects the country is tackling right now?

Ms Snitko: Foreign companies dominate in Russia’s dredging market as the required volume of dredging cannot be handled without them today.

By 2030, total capacity of Russian seaports will grow 1.5-2 times to 1.4-1.6 mln t per year mostly due to construction of new dedicated terminals. This means a necessity to perform a record high scope of dredging works in Russia. In 2014-17 it is to exceed 170 mln cbm against 57.8 mln cbm dredged in 2009-13.

The largest projects in terms of dredging include the construction of port Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula (70.2 mln cbm of material in 2014-17), creation of a deepwater cruise port in the Kaliningrad Region (20 mln cbm), outer port Bronka in Saint-Petersburg (10.8 mln cbm in 2017-18), dry-bulk port Taman at the Black Sea (49.3 mln cbm).

I’m sure that Russia market will remain one of the priorities for global dredging companies within the coming years. We have something to propose and have a lot to learn from foreign colleagues. That is why our International Forum of Dredging Companies is a well-timed event, a platform for a free intercourse between the dredging companies worldwide and their customers.

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Dredging Today Staff