State-of-the-art port terminals on Russia's near future agenda

Russia's State Fisheries Committee has come forward with an ambitious plan to carry out total modernization of the shipping terminals in the Russian fish ports.

The modernization will also cover the procedure of vessel clearance, Head of the Committee Andrey Krainy told Gudok.

It is planned to invest large sums of money in port terminals reconstruction and refurbishment for the Russian fishermen to enjoy a "five stars" standard of service, he underlined.

Along the lines, several legislative initiatives have been worked out by the Fishery Committee and submitted to the Government, one of them (submitted on 14, March 2008) covers the drafted unified order of fishing vessels and cargo clearance at Russian ports.

According to Mr. Krainy, the new clearance procedure will help reduce the number of inspectors from various Government bodies handling a boat to 4 - 5 persons and the time of inspection and customs clearance from the current 72 hours to 3 hours only.

On a broader scale, the State Fisheries Committee before 1, April intends to submit to the Russian Government the Draft of the Federal target program of fishery industry development in 2009 - 2013. Currently this official document is being collecting consents by the Ministry of economic development. The industry needs RUB 32 billion for infrastructure refurbishment and no less than RUB 62 billion to revive the fishery industry in general.

Meanwhile, according to amendments of the Law on Fishery implemented in December 2007, from  the 1 of January 2009 all the seafood catched in the Russian EEZ shall have to be brought to the Russian ports for clearance. According to Andrey Krainy, the ports should be completely ready for the influx and comply with the new requirements to work effectively.