In terms of historical age, the Vyborg port would have won a dispute with a port in Arkhangelsk. He is fifty-seven years older than his northern neighbor. But the oldest port in Russia is considered the Arkhangelsk shipyard. The thing is that Vyborg was then Vieborg, and the port was Swedish.
Swedish story
In the 16th century, the title of slipway city had to be earned. It gave the right not only to accept foreign ships, but also to trade through their merchants themselves. Vyborg received this title in 1527.
Vyborg port had an excellent location - in the middle of the main Baltic trade route. Swedes, Danes, Dutchs made Vyborg the main place of sale, and for merchants from Veliky Novgorod, the port became a real logistics hub - the main transit point.
By the end of the 19th century, the Vyborg Sea Port became not only a large trading center, but also had at its disposal an excellent fleet of 126 vessels. In addition to cargo, port vessels were also engaged in passenger transportation. By area, it was one of the largest European ports, it was divided into external and internal, and the internal port - into the North and South.
Today's port status
It was the South port that eventually turned into the “Port of Vyborg,” whose geographical location cannot be called successful. It is located right in the center of the city and, moreover, is “supported” by the local shipyard.
Port facilities, by their specialization, are universal, which receive and process a wide variety of cargoes: bulk, liquid, bulk, food, chemical, etc.
The port is very long, its length is about one and a half kilometers along the coast of the bay. It consists of thirteen berths, and only one is designed for passenger ships. The rest work exclusively with goods.
Port Features
In the activities of the ports, there are professional criteria and technical specifications necessary for representatives of the fleets. For example, the Vyborg port can provide closed and open storage of goods, services for their transshipment, freight forwarding escort of goods, ship agency services and many other services.
Navigation in Vyborg is year-round, but in winter time the help of an icebreaker is needed. The circle of countries whose vessels often use the services of a port in Vyborg is as follows: Germany, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and Norway.
In the Soviet period, the company worked with a crazy load: the vessels were unloaded and loaded around the clock in three shifts, the total weight of the transshipped cargo reached three million tons per year. Port life was in full swing. But then it all ended.
Bouquet of port troubles
After the collapse of the USSR during the period of privatization at the Vyborg port, everything turned out in the most unsuccessful way. The following factors "invested" in economic troubles:
- Depreciation of equipment and outdated infrastructure.
- Shallow draft depth and short approach paths.
- Localization in the city center without any possibility of expansion.
- Frequent change of ownership and managerial incompetence.
The profitability of the port limped on both legs: six berths were simply closed due to extreme wear and tear. Even Vyborg port is almost not present in city photo albums: it looks unpresentable from all sides, to say nothing ...
Despite the new proud name of Port Vyborgsky LLC, it turned into a poor relative of the neighboring port of Vysotsky. The fact is especially offensive, because the port of Vysotsky was not even considered a port before, but was just an auxiliary portopart. Its transformation can be described in textbooks on operational management: Vysotsk relied on coal and won. Now it is one of the most powerful coal terminals in the Baltic.
Vyborg cannot admit coal to the port in any way - it is located in the very center of the city. Therefore, the freight nomenclature of the enterprise does not change: mineral fertilizers, aluminum, cement, wood, metals.
Prospects for the Vyborg port: management case
In training centers for top executives, they like to hold various kinds of competitions with the solution of complex multi-level managerial tasks taken from real life. The future strategy of the port in Vyborg could be an excellent case for some all-Russian contest involving bright goals to find an effective port strategy.
There is a dilemma:
- Engage in the modernization and conversion of cargo berths, which will require huge investments. Narrow the profile of the cargo port for transshipment of containers and cars, for example.
- Collapse the cargo component of the port, demolish cargo berths and concentrate on the tourism component in the form of a modern powerful berth for passenger liners and ferries.
Many serious factors will have to be taken into account. For example, the unfortunate draft of ships, which is extremely low in the Vyborg port, is only six and a half meters. And the length of vessels for entering the port should not exceed 140 meters. If you continue to deal with sea cargo, the fairway depth should be increased by at least a meter - to a depth of seven and a half meters.
One way or another, the port's prospects are connected with the repair and modernization of the berths, where one of the immediate main tasks will be to deepen the fairway to be able to receive large vessels. Everything will depend on the decisions of the owners and state courts. Vyborg port deserves serious attention and effective solutions.