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Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, operator of Gazprom Neft's bunkering business, has completed its first quayside delivery of marine fuels following the commencement of operations at the new St. Petersburg port of Bronka. Up until now, bunker deliveries at Bronka have been carried out at anchorage.

The first vessel to be refuelled at the quay was the 9,653-deadweight-tonne passenger ferry Finnstar, operated by Finnlines, which runs between the German port of Travemunde and the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

According to Gazpromneft, the total volume of fuel supplied was 750 tonnes of mazut heavy fuel oil (HFO) and 80 tonnes of diesel fuel.

The new Bronka multi-functional intermodal handling centre is being implemented as part of a wider strategy to develop regions around the 'Big Port St. Petersburg' project, outlined by the government in 2009.

Brought into service in December 2015, the port is intended to be used for the handling of containers and rolling cargo, and will be integrated into the wider logistics network of the St Petersburg transportation system. The new port is expected to become one of the key cargo districts of the new Big Port St. Petersburg project, allowing goods to be delivered to St. Petersburg without any intermediate reloading at European ports, resulting in a 10-percent cost saving on transhipment costs, and increasing the competitiveness of the Big Port St. Petersburg.

Once the first phase of construction is completed, Bronka will have throughput capacity for 1.45 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers and 260,000 units of roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) cargo, with loading quays running to a total length of two kilometres.

Andrey Vasilyev, CEO of Gazpromneft Marine Bunker, commented: "The first quayside bunkering at the port's intermodal complex is a major event in the development of St Petersburg's maritime transport infrastructure and I am delighted that this honour has been awarded to our company. The rapid growth of the new Bronka port will increase demand for bunkering services in and around its facilities. Our company delivers a high level of service, and high-quality dark, light and ultra-low-sulphur bunkering fuels. We see business operations in the new Bronka complex as one of the most promising areas of work in the Russian North West."