Port Of Vladivostok, Russia

The Port of Vladivostok is Russia's most southeastern seaport and the administrative center of the Primorsky territory near the country's borders with China and North Korea. Lying on the shores of the Golden Horn Bay (Zolotoy Rog) off the Sea of Japan, the Port of Vladivostok is almost 470 nautical miles north-northwest of Japan's Port of Sakai and about 510 nautical miles north-northeast of the Port of Busan in Korea. The Port of Vladivostok is an important cultural and educational center for the Russian Far East, and students are a major group within the city's population. In 2005, over 586 thousand people lived in the Port of Vladivostok.

The economy of the Port of Vladivostok is largely based on maritime-oriented activities that include shipping, fishing, and the Russian Navy. Commercial fishing contributes most of the Port of Vladivostok's commercial output. The Port of Vladivostok is also home to the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet. The Port of Vladivostok imports food products, clothing and footwear, medicines, automobiles, household items, and ships. Its main exports include fish, timber, metals, and ships.

The land supporting the Port of Vladivostok has belonged to many powers that included the ancient Korean Balhae Kingdom, Manchu Dynasty ancestors (the Jurchen), the Mongols, and China. Russia took control of the area in 1858 under the Treaty of Aigun with China.

Founded as a military outpost by Russia in 1960, the Port of Vladivostok's geographic location made it an important strategic base for Russia's Navy. In 1872, the Port of Vladivostok began to grow when the country's main naval base was located there.

The arrival of the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1903 connected the Port of Vladivostok to Manchuria and gave the port a better connection to the rest of the Russian Empire and enhanced its importance as a major center in eastern Russia. The Port of Vladivostok was important as a military port that received supplies from the United States during World War I.

When the Russian Revolution of 1917 began, the Port of Vladivostok was occupied by foreign forces, primarily the Japanese, who stayed there until the early 1920s. After they left the city, the Port of Vladivostok became important to the new Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) government.

The Port of Vladivostok continued to be the home of Russia's Pacific Fleet after the USSR took control. It grew considerably after World War II as a military base, and the Port of Vladivostok was closed to foreign shipping between the late 1950s and the end of the Soviet era in the early 1990s.

During the Soviet period, the city's industries were diversified. Large ship repair yards were constructed, workshops supporting the railways were added, and a plant making mining equipment was built.

After the "fall of Communism" in Russia, the Port of Vladivostok emerged as a commercial port with links to other eastern Russian ports as well as countries of the Far East. It began to import consumer goods from Japan, China, and other nations. Today, the Port of Vladivostok is the eastern last stop on Russia's Northern Sea Route that stretches from on the country's northeastern shores near Finland. It is the principal base for supplies for Russia's Arctic ports to the east of Cape Chelyuskin.

Much of the fish caught or processed in the Russian Far East is sent to the Port of Vladivostok for distribution to the rest of the country. The Port of Vladivostok exports petroleum, grain, and coal.

Today, the Port of Vladivostok contains light industries that make instruments and radios, veneers and furniture, chinaware, and pharmaceuticals. Food industries are important to the local economy, making fish, meat, and flour. A small building industry also arose in the Port of Vladivostok making prefabricated building panels.

After the Soviet era ended, the Port of Vladivostok's industries began to decline. Only the food processing industry continued to thrive, and mechanical engineering first remained busy. Today, the Port of Vladivostok is the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

The Commercial Port of Vladivostok is a fast-growing Russian transport company. While the Port of Vladivostok was originally founded in 1897 for domestic cargoes, it started handling foreign cargoes in 1991.

The Port of Vladivostok holds a strategically important position at the crossroads of international shipping corridors, and it has a well-developed cargo-handling infrastructure. Its major trading partners include South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Port of Vladivostok strives to promote and develop world trade and local prosperity by creating competitive advantages for its customers and partners. The Port of Vladivostok employs over 3500 people, and it contains almost 60 port-related businesses including stevedores, freight forwarders, shipping agents, surveyors, and other marine-related enterprises.

The Port of Vladivostok has capacity to handle up to 11 million tons of cargo per year. Its major cargoes include containers, metal products, vehicles, pulp, and general cargoes. Serving 16 shipping lines, the Port of Vladivostok supports ten container lines, four roll-on/roll-off lines, and two passenger vessel lines.

The Port of Vladivostok has a total of 4.2 kilometers of quays with alongside depth of up to 15 meters. Each berth is supported by rail tracks, with a total 20 kilometers of railways serving the port. The Port of Vladivostok covers an area of 55.2 hectares, and the harbor approach is from 20 to 30 meters deep. The Port of Vladivostok's railway station has capacity for one thousand wagons. The Port of Vladivostok contains 17 berths for commercial cargoes and passengers.

The Port of Vladivostok contains 63.4 thousand square meters of sheds and open storage area of 17.6 hectares. It contains two refrigerated warehouses, each of five thousand square meters.

The Vladivostok Container Terminal (VCT) is a joint venture between the Commercial Port of Vladivostok and the National Container Company. Operating since 1983, the Port of Vladivostok Container Terminal handles containers, heavy lift cargoes, and vehicles and serves ocean-going vessels, vehicles, and rail wagons. The VCT quay can accommodate two container ships at the same time at its quays with alongside depth of 11.6 meters. The VCT can handle 150 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo per year.

Berths 14 and 15 in the Port of Vladivostok handle containers and general cargo. The quay is 379 meters long with alongside depths of 11.5 and 14 meters, and the berths include warehouse capacity to store 160 thousand tons of cargo. The Port of Vladivostok has redeveloped Berths 14 and 15 into a dedicated container terminal that increased the port's container-handling capacity to 200 thousand TEUs per year.

The Port of Vladivostok Automobile Terminal (VAT) specializes in handling cars and other vehicles for distribution to Russian regions and other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The VAT offers temporary warehouse storage, stevedoring, and logistics services. The VAT has three warehouses for temporary storage, including a ten-story building that can accommodate one thousand cars, and 700 meters of rail tracks served by a two-level ramp.

Currently being rebuilt at Berth 11, the Port of Vladivostok's Oil Terminal is 86.8 meters long with alongside depth of 8 meters. It has capacity for storing 26 thousand cubic meters of oil products. In addition to meeting modern industrial and environmental standards, the Oil Terminal offers state-of-the-art dark oil products discharge technology and, when completed, will handle up to 1.5 million tons of cargo per year.

At Berths 1 and 2, the Port of Vladivostok Passenger Terminal has a 508.9 meter long quay with alongside depth of 9.8 meters. The Port of Vladivostok recognizes a growing need to modernize the existing passenger terminal, especially in light of the 2012 APEC Summit to be held in the Port of Vladivostok.

Aside from these specialized berths, the remaining berths are universal, handling a variety of cargoes that include containers, general cargo as well as bulk and liquid cargoes. Being the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Port of Vladivostok is a major transportation center for imports and exports.

The Port of Vladivostok is currently involved in several projects to modernize the port and increase its capacity. It is building an integrated container terminal at Berths 12 through 17 that will be managed by a single operator and will have capacity for 600 thousand TEUs by 2011. Berths 14 and 15 are the first to be reconstructed. The existing Port of Vladivostok Container Terminal will be the core of the new integrated facility.

The Port of Vladivostok is also building a vehicle terminal to handle, store, and forward automobiles and other vehicles. Cars will be distributed to Russia and other CIS countries by railway from the Port of Vladivostok. When construction is completed, the terminal will have capacity for 10 thousand units per year.

The new South Primorye Terminal will serve as a transport logistics complex serving the Russian Far East. It will have two main functions. The dry port cargo terminal will support ports of the Russian South Far East, and the warehousing accumulation and distribution center will provide high-tech integrated handling, storage, and distribution services for imports and exports with the biggest cities of the region.

Projects to create a specialized oil and oil products complex are being planned, and the Port of Vladivostok expects to handle about a million tons of oil-based cargoes per year and have capacity to store 41 thousand cubic meters.

Anticipating the 2012 APEC Summit, the Port of Vladivostok will rebuild its maritime passenger terminal to serve the expected passengers who will visit the port that year.

The City of Vladivostok is not a major tourist destination in itself. However, it is the terminals of the Trans-Siberian Railway and hosts many travelers who are beginning or ending their journeys in the Port of Vladivostok. It offers several attractions for visitors.

The Port of Vladivostok has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate with bitterly-cold winters and warm summers. September is the most comfortable month of the year with sunshine and fair weather. Temperatures range from an average high of 23 °C (74 °F) in August to an average low of -17 °C (-1 °F) in January.

Visitors to the Port of Vladivostok will enjoy seeing Golden Horn Bay, the home of Russia's Pacific Fleet. At the water's edge, the city center has wide boulevards with ornate hundred-year-old buildings (that need cleaning and restoration). The hills around the bay are steep and support Soviet-style housing for residents.

Waterfront walks are popular with both residents and visitors, and you can see the Pacific Fleet anchored off the coast in Golden Horn Bay. While photographs are allowed, fines are not unusual. While you can't visit the ships of the fleet, you can tour the C-56 submarine, Korabelnaya nab. The interior is well-preserved, and visitors can explore the sub without supervision.

The Port of Vladivostok has several theaters. The Maxim Gorky Academic Theater hosts works by Russian and foreign playwrights, and performances are also offered at the Chamber Theater, the Pacific Navy Theatre, and the Puppet Show. The Philharmonic Society of Primorsky Krai has its own concert hall in an historic Port of Vladivostok building, and it hosts many famous musicians and actors.

The Port of Vladivostok's Museum for Primorsky Krai Regional Studies occupies several buildings downtown and contains exhibits on traditional aboriginal culture, the first settlers, and local extinct and endangered animals. Visitors can enjoy displays of stones, sea shells, coins, ship models, old books and photographs, and antique garments. Monuments throughout the Port of Vladivostok document the city's maritime history. Great day!