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Travel Report MBE 2013 S.G. “William Froude”
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Preface Dear Reader, The Scheepsbouwkundig Gezelschap S.G. “William Froude” is the Study Association of Maritime Technology at the Technical University of Delft. For a 109 years our study association acts on the behalf of our students. S.G. “William Froude” has been involved in monitoring and improving the quality of the education. Next to this, organizing excursions, guest lectures, social activities and other means to support its members in their academic career has been an important part of its existence. The S.G. “William Froude” offers its members the opportunity to discover the many aspects, possibilities and developments of the maritime industry in the Netherlands and abroad. Each year our study association organises challenging day excursions, two-day excursions and even a casetour of two days. But the highlight of our year is the excursion week abroad, the MBE. During this week we travel with a group of 34 students and a professor to different countries within Europe. The primary goal of this trip is the give a closer view of the Maritime Industry within Europe. This year we have chosen to visit Russia, St. Petersburg. Russia and The Netherlands share a long history of shipbuilding. There are already many areas of cooperation, for example in the fields of offshore, inland and coastal shipping and shipbuilding. We believed it would be a great adventure for our Maritime Technology students to get to know the Russian Maritime Industry and educational programme offered in St. Petersburg. From the 24th of April until the 2nd of May we discovered the Russian Maritime Industry, education and culture. I speak for all the participants that we felt very welcome and learned a lot from our maritime colleagues in St. Petersburg.
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Finally I would like to thank everybody who has made this amazing trip possible and I hope you enjoy reading our travel report! Met Luide Plonsch! Elouise Reiff Commissioner of Excursions
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Table of content Preface 2 Participants
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Programme 7 SMTU 8 Sovcomflot 11 Dutch Consulate
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SPB UWC
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Hermitage
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Peterhoff Palace and Kronstadt
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Krylov Institute
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Russian Register of Shipping
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Nevsky Shipyard
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Petrolesport
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Vodka Museum and Theatre
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Thanks to
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Participants Students Jasper Barsingerhorn Koen Batteram Gerben Dekker Bart Diesveld Pim Donker Rens Gerritsen Kerim Haccou Marjolein ten Hacken Harm IJsseldijk Pieternel Janzen
Thomas Kalverda Lars Kohlmann Jurjen Limburg Chris de Man Lauren Mekke Hanna Pot Karel Roozen Gem Rotte Daan Schuttevaer Dominique Smit
Menno Sonnema Jeroen Taen Stephanie Tjin-A-Djie Ramon van der Valk Sander Verduijn Wouter de Vos Eefje Vredeveldt Hedde van der Weg Benjamin Wols
Representative of TU Delft Jeroen Pruyn
109th Board of the S.G. “William Froude” Coen Bouhuys Laurette Bronswijk Sander Knegt Daniël Langereis Elouise Reiff
Chairman Secretary Treasurer Commissioner of Education Commissioner of Excursions
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Programme Wednesday 24-04 Arrival
Thursday 25-04 Visit SMTU Visit icebreaker Krasin Visit Sovcomflot Miss SMTU show
Friday 26-04 Visit Dutch Consulate Visit SPB UWC
Saturday 27-04 Hermitage
Sunday 28-04
Visit Peterhoff Palce and Kronstadt
Monday 29-04 Visit Krylov Institute Visit Nevsky Shipyard
Tuesday 30-04
Visit Russian Register of Shipping Visit Petrolesport
Wednesday 1-05 Vodka museum
Thursday 2-05 Departure
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SMTU
By Menno Sonnema and Hedde van der Weg The first morning in Russia, April, 25 2013, was somewhat unusual. All of the students were tired from the flight the day before, and the visit to a local bar was fun but had not improved the ability of waking up for some that morning. But after a slow start, when everyone had had breakfast and got dressed, it was time for the first visit in St. Petersburg. This visit was to the SMTU, the State Marine Technical University of St. Petersburg, and the icebreaker Krasin. It was said that the SMTU was a walking distance away from our hostel, so we went for a walk in St. Petersburg in the morning. It turned out that the distance was somewhat bigger than expected, so the walk took quite some time. A good way to see the city though. Once we got to the university, and almost passed it without noticing it, it was clear that there is a difference between universities in the Netherlands and in Russia. The building was huge, and had an antique appearance with huge pillars and windows, but the entrance was small compared to the building. Inside the difference could also be seen, it looked smaller and maybe even a bit cramped compared to the TU Delft.
10 But since we are not architects we want to move on to the visit. The first thing that most of us weren’t expecting was the wardrobe, were there was a nice lady who took your jacket and bags and put them away. This is a very nice system compared to what we are used to, where you keep your own jacket and just put it somewhere you think it could stay. After the jackets were put away we went to the room where we would meet some Russian students and other participants. Half an hour later than planned the program began with a speech by the rector of the SMTU, followed by greetings from the vice-consul of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg in Dutch. It is always nice to hear your own language in a foreign country, and so the day at SMTU finally began. After that we saw a movie about the SMTU, the university was quite different than most expected after the first impressions, and a presentation about S.G. William Froude. An interpreter was with us in the room to translate everything that was said since most of the Russian students did not speak English and none of us spoke Russian. Although the interpreter did a great job, it was obvious that the Marine world was not the world she usually worked in, since she repeatedly had to search for the correct translation. This sometimes resulted in people who thought the translation was not correct to translate the sentence their selves, which was quite funny in some situations. This also happened a few times during the presentations some other Russian universities had prepared for that day. These presentations were given by students who were part of a project throughout Russia. We saw five presentations of students who had some very interesting subjects for their research, from building a yacht to refining turbine blades for higher efficiency.
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The SMTU also arranged a lunch for us that day. It started after a final speech from the vice-rector of the SMTU and thanks from Froude to the SMTU for arranging a nice day for the Dutch students. The lunch was nice with some coffee and tea and some Russian rolls. After the lunch we departed to an old ice-breaker, the “Krasin�, which is now a museum. The ship was built in 1917 and was up to the beginning of 1950 one of the most powerful ships in the worlds. In the Second World War the ship was used by the Allies for escorted convoys and after the war the ship was converted to an Arctic scientific vessel. The ship took part in a lot of research expeditions and led Soviet cargo conveys and is used until 1998. From 1998 the ship functions as a floating museum in St. Petersburg. A Russian woman was friendly enough to guide us through the whole ship and told a lot about the history of the ship and the function of each cabin.
We visited the cabin room of the captain, the headquarters of the crew and the wheelhouse. The engine room was closed due to maintenance, which was a pity since most of us really wanted to see the marine engine. After taking a group picture we left the ship and we went to Sovcomflot.
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Sovcomflot By Eefje Vredeveldt and Koen Batteram
On Thursday afternoon, after a decent walk from the Krasin, we visited the headquarters of the Russian shipping company Sovcomflot(Совкомфлот). The name Sovcomflot is short for Современный коммерческий флот, which can be translated as Modern Commercial Fleet. This state-owned company who specializes in shipping petroleum and LNG was founded in 1995, and since December 5, 2006, its headquarters are located in Saint Petersburg. After absorbing the assets of another state-owned company called Novoship in 2007-2008, Sovcomflot became the largest shipping company in Russia. Sovcomflot specializes in operating ice class vessels within the framework of industrial projects in the Baltic, Far Eastern and Arctic regions. After a warm welcome we were told that the company has several offices in Russia, Europe and Asia. The office in St. Petersburg is used for both management and training activities. First we were shown around an impressive conference room that was used to host guests and to have official meetings. It had been decorated with nice pictures and paintings of some of the company’s vessels.
13 We followed our guide upstairs to watch a short movie that explained the company’s organization and activities as mentioned above. Next we were given a tour around the first floor that held various simulation rooms designed to train seamen. The training area consisted of two cabin simulators and an engine room simulator. We had the opportunity to try and navigate ourselves which was a nice and educational experience. The second floor was used as an office for bookkeeping en engineering activities.
This visit was a nice way to be introduced to the Sovcomflot company and perhaps some of us will return as engineers in the near future.
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Dutch Consulate By Dominique Smit and Chris de Man
On the third day of our stay in Russia it was time for a Dutch excursion, to the Dutch Consulate. After breakfast, our bus drove us to the consulate in the centre of St. Petersburg. At our destination awaited a warm welcome with a nice cup of coffee or tea. We were greeted by Klaas Huisman and Peter Bannink, who planned to tell us about the work that the consulate does for the Dutch and Russian people in St Petersburg. It was within our expectations that the Dutch consulate handles migration and visa, but they do a lot more than that alone. The consulate represents the Dutch government in North-West Russia, by giving support to Dutch citizens in the event of emergencies, and by safeguarding the cultural history these two nations have in common. Furthermore, the Dutch consulate strengthens economic relations between the Netherlands and Russia by promoting investment and by kick starting and maintaining trade missions. Examples of companies that are active in the Russia are Philips, AkzoNobel, and Unilever, just to name a few.
15 The ties between the Netherlands and Russia date back to the end of the seventeenth century. Peter the Great travelled to Holland to learn the art of shipbuilding in 1697. He was so charmed by the city of Amsterdam that when he returned to Russia, he build up St Petersburg in 1703 and mimicked some key features of Dutch architecture. This is why St Petersburg is also known as New Amsterdam. The two countries kept a good relation with each other throughout history. Especially this year, as 2013 is a special bilateral year between Russia and The Netherlands, which aims to preserve and develop the cultural, economic and political relations between these two nations. To conclude, our visit to the Consulate-General of The Netherlands in St Petersburg allowed us to better understand the history of the existing relations between The Netherland and Russia, and gave us a bird’s-eye view of the cultural and economic developments that take place in this area of the world.
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SPB UWC
By Jeroen Taen and Jasper Barsingerhorn On the 3rd day of our visit to St. Petersburg we visited the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping (SPB UWC). Upon arrival in St. Petersburg we had already acquainted ourselves with some of the students of the SPB UWC and dr. Anatoly Burkov over dinner. Now we got a chance to visit the university itself, to further get acknowledged with the students and their faculty. The professor joined us during the trip from the consulate to the university, acting as a terrific tourguide during the bus ride. Upon arrival at the university we noticed that in comparison to the University in Delft it was smaller; however that was due to the fact that what we consider a faculty here was considered a full university in Russia. After a short welcome word we got a tour around the laboratories of the university. First on the list to visit was the simulation center, which was used for the training of navigators and sometimes for 5th or 6th year students. After the simulation center we visited the universities’ own towing tank. The head of the towing tank gave us an introduction about the towing tank, which has a length of 120 meters, a breadth of 6 meters and a depth of 3 meters. Models of up to 7 meters are tested with a velocity of up to 6 meters per second, which is sufficient to perform model tests of high speed craft.
17 Just like the towing tank with which the Dutch students are familiar the tank at SPB UWC has a wave generator, capable of producing waves with a wavelength between 1 and 4 meters and a height of 15 centimeters. The water in the tank was not that clear but lights were employed to increase the visibility. The cart was powered by overhead cables, of which 12 function and 12 are redundant. A lot of ice breakers are tested at model level in this tank. Mr. Burkov told us that plans are being made to move the complete university to new facilities. Following the towing tank we visited the wind tunnel facilities, which are, for example, used to measure the wind flows around helicopter platforms on ships and forces and moments on rudders or propellers. The pressure distribution is measured, by manometers, at 25 points. Even though this was described as an old fashioned installation it was sufficient enough for students to perform their experiments. After the wind tunnel Mr. Burkov stated that ‘we need to feed you’ so we were taken to lunch in the cafeteria. The lunch was traditional Russian and very tasteful. With our hunger satisfied we set off to the conference room for the round table session with some students and professors. Presentations were given by students as well as professors, on subjects such as: Scientific research methods, PhD project on helideck placement,
18 Russian shipbuilding industry, and the Russian waterways. From the Dutch side presentations were given on the solar boat and the Maritime Faculty itself. Both sides had questions for the opposite side, which indicates a common interest in maritime technology, especially inland shipping was a subject on which we had a good discussion as the Russians are striving to expand their usage of inland waterways like the Dutch have done. As a final tour we visited the fluid dynamics laboratory. Here we encountered many installations to visualize the physical phenomena like turbulent and stationary flow, or Bernoulli’s equation. Also they had an installation which was a model of a lock, to simulate mooring conditions. We finished the visit with a small thank you gift from both sides. All in all it was really interesting to see how our colleagues in St. Petersburg studied in comparison to how we study in Delft. We saw a lot of difference but also many similarities.
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Hermitage By Karel Roozen and Hanna Pot
The Hermitage is one of the biggest museums in St. Petersburg. Visiting the Hermitage was scheduled on our free Saturday halfway our stay in Russia. It proved to be interesting enough for every participant of the study trip to pay the museum a visit. And we have seen why! =D The Hermitage is a not only a beautiful museum due to the art on display but it is housed in an amazing building as well. The Hermitage is housed in the old winter palace that once belonged to several great Russian emperors. It is located in the city centre, stretches for over 300 meters in length and is three stories high. Inside there are numerous impressive staircases, hallways and ballrooms. On the nice and spacious courtyard we even caught a glimpse of the last remaining snow reminding us of being far, far north. The Hermitage is one of the aspects that empathizes the relation between Russia and The Netherlands since Amsterdam houses the only dependence of the museum. Walking through the museum in St. Petersburg, it sometimes felt a bit like home among
20 all the works of famous Dutch artists. But we have seen a lot more, Asian art, Egyptian art, Russian art and even modern art. subject, Marine Technology, we all will remember this visit as one of the highlights of our study trip. Halfway our tour in the Hermitage we found a nice activity at the second floor in a hallway full of admiral portraits. During our short break we have enjoyed ourselves playing a little game of ‘Who is Who?’. Somewhat later at the day we have even spotted a portrait of a granddad of one of our study trip’s participants, once more emphasizing the old and strong relation ship between The Netherlands and Russia. All the male students, unlike in their own university, had the opportunity to enjoy loads of female beauties. However with a small remark for the painted ones on the walls regarding their gross tonnage. After several hours of enjoying the paintings and the palace of the Hermitage, all participants of the study trip where culturally satisfied. Despite the fact this excursion did not have al lot in common with our study’s
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Peterhoff Palace and Kronstadt By Harm Ijseldijk and Sander Verduijn
Harm and I got an invitation of Peter himself to come and look at his palace near the great city of St. Petersburg. We greatly appreciated this gesture and decide to take some friends with us to visit his palace and immense gardens. We arrived with busses on a cloudy Sunday morning, but before going to palace and gardens we had to make a little stop to, because some people had filled their bladder the evening before. While waiting on our wonderful tour guide Elouise to get the tickets, we were suddenly surrounded by a Korean horde. But then the monkey came out of the sleeve, they realized we were no Koreans; they discovered we were of a larger species. The weather gods of Russia were so happy with our arrival that they decided to grant us with a hailstorm. Despite our gift we hurried inside to stand in line to check in our jackets. But finally after emptying our water bottles, donning some blue slippers we were allowed to enter the great palace with a guide. One of the first rooms we entered was one of the brightest rooms we have ever laid our eyes upon. We started the meal with a dessert, the nose of the salmon, because this room was completely covered in gold. Another amazing room was the The Chesma Hall, which is decorated
22 with twelve large paintings of the Battle of Chesma, a stunning naval victory of the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. As future maritime engineers this was of course a great thing to behold. An interesting note is that these were painted between 1771 and 1773 by the German artist Jacob Philipp Hackert. After passing through another big room we entered a room in which one of Harm’s many dreams came true, because its walls are almost entirely covered by a series of 368 paintings of women. Our Korean friends will have probably liked the rooms in which art from the Eastern part of the world was represented. Those were the East and West Chinese Cabinets, decorated between 1766 and 1769 to exhibit objects of decorative art imported from the East. And as a blow on the fireworks there were the Delftsch blue stoves, which were there because the Peter the Great was a great fan of the Netherlands. The only strange thing about these stoves was that they were never used, since it was the summer palace. When we ventured outside the weather gods decided to grant us with sunshine and clear skies. It was time to explore the great gardens of the Peterhof Palace. Especially for our visit Peter turned the fountains on, this was a magnificent sight. The thing that we as engineering student found astonishing about these fountains is that they operate without pumps. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade. The Samson Fountain is supplied by a special aqueduct, over four km in length, drawing water and pressure from a high-elevation source.
23 After being amazed by these wonderful fountains we had to recharge our batteries. A walk through the large gardens of the Peterhof Palace did the job. We were not able to see the entire gardens but the part we were able to see was fantastic. An interesting fact is that the great-grandfather of one of the Dutch students designed the gardens. This concluded our visit to the Peterhof Palace and gardens. We are jealous of Russia that they have such a grand garden and palace. Palace The Loo in The Netherlands looks like a garden shed compared to its Russian After a short toilet stop we went back into the busses, we continued our journey west. We went to the Ibiza of St. Petersburg, Kronstadt. This island was important for the protection of St. Petersburg. A part of the fleet was stationed there and is surrounded by fortified islands. After a small stop in a restaurant were the bar was a boat, we went to the main square were we got a warm welcome by Admiral Makarov himself. Also the Naval Cathedral, built from 1908 to 1913 and considered to represent a culmination of the Russian Neo-Byzantism, was a sight to behold. It was so beautiful that our pants dropped off. The building of this Cathedral was funded by a group of Naval Officers.
24 Next we took a short walk to the harbor, where some outdated Navy ships were stationed. Nowadays the modern part of the Russian Navy is stationed somewhere else. But nonetheless it was, for us as Maritime Students, a pretty sight to see. What we were amazed about was that although it was the beginning of May and the temperature was around 11 째C (or 51.8 째F and 284.15 K) we still saw that big parts of the water were covered in ice. This was something we are not used to as Netherlanders. We can imagine that this causes some inconveniences for the ship, especially during the winter. After completing our tour across the island it was time to get back to the bus and back to the mainland. On the way back we took another road than we did in the morning, this was because we could see some more of the
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Krylov Institute By Gerben Dekker & Daan Schuttevaer
After a weekend full of cultural highlights it was time to visit our next institution, the Krylov Institute. A short bus trip brought us to the institution, established in 1894 and rebuilt at its current location in 1930. Accompanied by our Russian colleagues we were greeted by the general director at the main entrance. Almost immediately after this we were guided to the model building department where a glimpse of the building procedure could be caught. After a short but brief explanation the first towing tank appeared. The ability to split the tank halfway on its impressive 1542 meter length was yet unseen for all of us. Due to this modification multiple tests could be performed at the same time. A nice trip was made on the towing installation with the entire group. During this there was time for some questions which were very well translated by the Krylov translator. When the towing car returned we saw a glimpse of the ice tank, followed by probably the most awesome basin we all had ever seen. The circular high-speed tank blew our minds. Impressive it was to hear that the operators would faint if they remained seated at maximum velocity. It was interesting to hear that it
26 wavemakers at the sides they were able to simulate waves coming in at any direction. During our visit a semi-submersible oilrig was being tested, which gave us the opportunity to see the tank in real working action. Besides all the water-testing installations, the Krylov Institute also performs several structural tests. Mainly full scale fatigue was tested by exerting massive forces on the tested devices. Huge hydraulic cylinders and a reinforced building were used for these tests. At the end of our visit we went to one more building on the site, namely the high pressure tank. In here tests could be performed to simulate pressures up to 1500 bar, so they can test any possible dive anywhere on the world including a safety margin. After this we ran out of time and thanked our hosts before continuing to our next visit. Everything together, it was an impressive experience for all of us.
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Nevsky Shipyard By Bart Diesveld and Marjolein ten Hacken
Monday 29 April 2013 we visited Nevsky shipyard. Nevsky Shipyard is a shipbuilding and ship repair company with a total of 1860 (volgens aantekening 1860 volgens site:500) employees. Nevsky Shipyard is one of the oldest enterprises of water transport in the north west of Russia. The company is situated forty kilometers from St. Petersburg on the Neva river. The production of this yard allows to build ships according to all international standards. The production capacity of this yard makes it possible to process up to ten thousand tons of metal structures a year. At the moment we visited the yard, they were working on two serie projects, a serie of ten selfpropelled dry-cargo vessels and a serie of guard ships. There are already six ships of the cargo vessel serie built. The dry-cargo vessels are classed by the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping which we visited the morning before visiting Nevsky. When we arrived at Nevsky shipyard we almost immediately started the tour around the yard. We
28 were all very impressed when we saw how a very large crane drove along, real close to us. Then we saw the large stock of metal and profiles that is used for building the ships. After that we went on to the production halls, where the next states of the production process find place. The yard has three production halls. In the first hall there is a panel line where the steel plates are prepared for the section building. For the section building this hall includes building cradles and cranes with a capacity of 150 tons. In the next halls the sections are put together to a ship. In these halls there is enough place to build four vessels at the same time. At the time of our visit there were ships in all different states of the building process, so we could see the process very well. Also very nice to see was the end result: the ship that was almost ready and would be launched the day after our visit. All in all it was a very nice trip. We got a good view on the shipbuilding process which was very interesting to see. Thank you!
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Russian Register of Shipping By Pim Donker and Jurjen Limburg
From the hostel we took the bus to the office of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. The Register is located in a beautifully decorated building near the Neva River. Once inside we were brought to a meeting room where the head of the business development department gave a presentation about the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping. The Russian maritime register of shipping was established in 1913 and is the biggest classification societies in Russia. This is due to the fact that Register was the USSR’s Register for ships and thus had a monopoly in the former Soviet Union. The Register is recognized by the European Union and is part of the IACS (International association of classification societies). The Russian maritime register of shipping has been a member of IACS since 1969 and has been the chairman four times, the first time was in 1973 and the last one in 2011. They have around 50 offices Located in Russia with more than 1500 maritime specialists working for them. They have a few offices in Europe and the Middle East, one in Brazil and one in South Africa. There are also plans to begin offices in Australia, USA, Japan and Spain.
30 The Russian Maritime Register of Shipping classifies the following things: the safety of navigation and life at sea, the approval of materials, getting recognition for manufacturers, service suppliers and testing facilities, and they deal with the verification of firms.
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At the moment the Russian maritime register of shipping has classified 5410 ships flying flags from over 50 states. About 69% of the classified ships sail under the Russian flag, the other 21% is made up of other countries mostly located in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Research is very important for the Russian Maritime Registry of shipping. They work closely with several research facilities and have a council of 300 specialist who oversee and make decisions about the research that is done. One of the things the research of the RS focuses on is the research into winterization of ships. Winterization is the act of making ships and offshore structures resistant to the extreme colds present in the Arctic. It consists of two parts. The first part is the prevention of the forming of ice on parts of the ships and more specifically the integral parts of the ships. The second is making sure ships can still function when the temperature is below -30째C, -40째C and even below -50째C.
31 The new ships being built under the RS classification are primarily specialized ships, like arctic tankers, LNG carriers, offshore structures and an offshore nuclear power station. Most of the more difficult projects like LNG carriers have dual class, his means that they have been classified by two different classification offices. This dual classing is done because RS is not yet fully skilled in classifying large and high tech vessels. This dual classing also means that RS can learn from its partner classification office and one day can do these classifications on its own. Nuclear powered icebreakers however are solely classified by RS. The Russian maritime register of shipping is also an important classification office with regards to the classifications of arctic ships, and particularly arctic tankers.
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Petrolesport By Rens Gerritsen and Gem Rotte
After spending an hour in the bus driving from the city, we arrived at the ports of St. Petersburg. Before arriving at the actual terminals, we witnessed an old Tatra truck toppled over on the road. Probably, the scrap metal in the container which was placed pretty high on the truck was not really contributing to a positive GM-value. Moved by the sight of giant piles of scrap metal, a very long train with containers on it and imposing harbor cranes we look outside while driving through the terminals until we arrive at the main building of Petrolesport. Before we arrive at the main building, we have to wait at least twenty minutes for a freight train passing a railroad crossing. According to our Russian guides, waiting this long is not at all weird in Russia. Unlike the freight train passing by at a very low speed, the container terminal of Petrolesport is a modern and semi-automated terminal. Is has several container cranes and reech deckers driving everywhere, just like a container terminal we know from the Netherlands. The lunch we received was amazingly delicious and way too much for the number of people visiting the company. After finishing this delicious lunch, the General Director Eduard Chovushan and Financial Director Stanislav Medvedev gave us a tour by bus through the terrain of their terminal.
33 During this tour, it became clear that Petrolesport is not only concerned with the distribution of containers. The company owns a parking space which can store 8000 imported cars. The vehicles driving from the moored car carriers to the parking spaces are from different calibers, from Volvo’s to very luxurious Jaguars and several bulldozers, diggingand agriculture machines. The general director convinces us of the fact that Petrolesport is one of the best terminals in Russia, and the second biggest in Russia with a container throughput of 827 000 TEU last year. All lorries in the terminal are equipped with a specialized computers to manage the cargo flows. The computer program ‘KOSMOS’ from Belgium is one of the modernizations which accompany the investment plans to ensure that Petrolesport can meet the growing demand for container transshipment. KOSMOS is a program which helps organizing container flows in the terminal. The investment plans and company structure are explained by the director after the tour. It became clear that the company name “Petrolesport” has an internal part which means teamwork and Petrolesport is a listed company with 25% of the shares in the London stock exchange. Shareholders own another 37,5% of the shares in the company and the last 37,5% of the company is owned by A.P. Moller, the Maersk parent company.
34 Petrolesport began as a Finnish company specialized in shipping and distributing wood. Later, they also started exchanging scrap metal and other raw materials. In the last 10-15 years, the shipping and distributing of containers and Ro-Ro cargo is increased enormously. All the hills of scrap that we saw on the way to the main building are planned to be used as space for more container and Ro-Ro cargo, but there is not yet enough of this cargo to implement these plans. They are now gradually replacing the scrap and wood supplies with RoRo-, refrigerated cargo- and container stocks.
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As mentioned before, Petrolesport is investing to meet the growing demand for container and refrigerated cargo transshipment. This involves the construction of new quays and the deepening of the existing berths and the improvement of the infrastructure. There are plans to build new rails to facilitate 200 train wagons on the quays and build a new connection to the main road (ring) of St. Petersburg, the shortest route around the Finnish Gulf. There are also plans to invest in new cranes and tools to improve the container handling. All these plans should ensure that the port can grow from the cargo transshipment of around 1 million TEU per year to 2 million TEU per year in the next ten years or so.
35 After this very interesting lecture on Petrolesport’s activities and planning we got a short ‘bonus’ tour around the refrigerated cargo stockings and we saw the unloading of a ship moored at one of the berths. It became clear that the refrigerated cargo stocks are huge, due to the fact that Russia is mainly depending on the import of fresh food such as meat, fruit and vegetables. Another notable fact was that the containers were transported from the ships to the storage facilities by manned lorries. In the Netherlands, this is mainly automated. The reason for this difference is mainly the low salary level in Russia, they still use people because it is not economically interesting to automate this factor in the cargo flows. Concluding, we learned a lot about one of Russia’s biggest container terminals and the economic prospects of Russia and St. Petersburg in particular. When we look at quality and productivity we saw that Petrolesport stands for the highest rates in Russia, with the longest quays and biggest territory in St. Petersburg. We want to thank the company and particularly mr. Eduard Chovushan and mr. Stanislav Medvedev for this wonderful and informative excursion!
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Vodka Museum and Theatre By Lars Kohlmann and Stephanie Tjin-A-Djie
At five o clock we gathered together in the vodka museum. We were not with the whole group, a couple of them were not in the mood to see the museum or to have a few shots of vodka. A well English speaking girl gave us a tour through the place. There was one room with a lot of little showcases, inside one of them there hang a necklace with a huge iron star. This star weighted about 14 kg. The story was that if you had make a mistake with alcohol and you misused it you were punished and had to wear this necklace. After about a quarter, it wasn’t a big museum, we went to the next room which was a bar with over 250 kinds of vodka. On three standing tables stood three kinds of vodka bottles and a lot of shots. After we had a look around the bar we were told that the tradition in Russia is to have a snack after every shot of vodka so two employees came in with three more standing tables with three kinds of snacks. We started with the first and cheapest vodka, it was real sharp in your throat. Then we had a snack, I mean we tried a snack but it was horrible. It was pig fat on rye bread. So everybody took a pickle or a herring. After the snack we took the next shot, a little more expensive and a little less sharp. And at last we had the best vodka which was delicious for your mind and throat. We said goodbye to the girl who gave us the tour and grabbed our jackets to go to the Mariinsky theatre.
37 The idea was to go back to the hostel and change into some nicer clothes but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time for that so we went straight to the theatre. Here we walked into the big theatre and tried to find our seats, they were located at the top of the theatre and provided a beautiful view of the whole theatre. The theatre had a very big crystal chandelier which was the first thing you saw when you walked in the room. After this you noticed the rest of the room, which was just as beautiful as the chandelier. Everything was decorated and opulent. The play started right on time and since I had no idea what the play was about the first part was not very comprehensible seeing that it was in French and the subtitle was in Russian. But the orchestra played very well and the costumes and acting of the performers were very interresting as well. After the first three acts there was a intermission which was followed by the last two acts. When the play ended the theatre gave the actors and orchestra a standing ovation. We then got in the very long line to get our coats and headed back to the hostel.
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