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The Sovcomflot-owned Primorsky Prospekt was the first Aframax size vessel to call at the new oil product terminal at the Russian port of Ust-Luga, located in the Leningrad Region.

The 114,000 deadweight tonne (dwt) tanker is reported to have loaded around 92,000 tonnes of fuel oil from the port. The ice class 1B vessel was designed to operate in the Baltic region for the transportation of hydrocarbons from the Russian ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Kozmino. The ship's overall length is 250 metres, it has a beam of 44 metres, and a maximum draft of 15 metres.

Ust-Luga's new oil product terminal was launched in test mode in January 2011. The first vessel to load fuel oil from the facility was the product carrier SCF Neva, also owned by Sovcomflot, on 31st January 2011.

The ice class 1A SCF Neva, loaded a cargo of 44,000 tonnes of fuel oil and departed from Ust-Luga heading for the port of Tallinn, Estonia.

Commenting on the first loading operation at the time, Andrey Babahanov, director of fleet operations for OAO Sovcomflot, said: "Successful loading of fuel oil aboard the tanker SCF Neva on 31 January is a trial operation. In close coordination with the cargo owners and the port operators, we needed to check the functioning of all services and systems of Russia's new oil products terminal. The data obtained during the handling of the tanker SCF Neva will be taken into account when the loading of large tankers is arranged in the port of Ust-Luga."

Situated on the Luga River, approximately 110 kilometres west of St. Petersburg, Ust-Luga is located practically on the border between the Russian Federation and the European Union.

The deep water area of the port (17 metres) together with the 3,700-metre approach canal make Ust-Luga port the only Russian port on the Baltic Sea capable of admitting dry-cargo vessels with a deadweight of up to 75,000 tonnes and liquid cargo carriers with a deadweight of up to 120,000 tonnes.

The port is expected to play an important role in the transportation of oil products as it is one of the few Russian ports capable of providing access to large deadweight vessels to export processed oil products, thus removing the dependence on foreign export terminals.

There are currently six terminals operating in Ust-Luga port: a coal transshipment terminal, the Universal transloading complex, a terminal for technical sulphur transshipment, a motor-railway ferry complex, the actively developing Yug-2 Multipurpose transloading complex and the 'Factor’ timber terminal.

The new oil export terminal is operated by JSC Rosneftbunker, a business unit of Gunvor Group. In November 2010, Rosneftbunker signed a credit line agreement with Vnesheconombank worth US$200 million to complete the financing of the Ust-Luga liquid bulk cargo facility.

The terminal’s projected capacity is 30 million tonnes of exported oil products a year. This year Rosneftbunker plans to handle approximately 10-11 million tonnes.