28 September 2023

NFP commences construction of marine terminal

The Development Way subsurface vessel arrived in Nakhodka Bay with two cargo barges, two tugboats for cargo transportation and one pile-driver vessel on board. Said special equipment will be used for construction of the offshore part of the terminal of the Nakhodka Mineral Fertilizer Plant (NFP).

Unloading took place at sea: when the Development Way was partially submerged to the required depth, tugboats pulled out all 5 vessels and delivered them to their moorage area. Soon, the machinery will commence pile installation.

Assessment of environmental risks during construction and operation of the marine terminal has been carried out at all levels. The project has successfully passed Main State Environmental Review and was approved by the Primorsky Territorial Administration of Russian Federal Fisheries Agency (Rosrybolovstvo). In addition, this May, at the public hearings the designers and environmental experts provided local residents with the results of all the studies conducted: the level of the terminal’s environmental impact does not exceed permissible standards. To maintain the ecosystem, in 2024 NFP specialists will release juvenile fish into the waters of the Sea of Japan.

The marine terminal is an important part of the future plant, a starting point for finished products. It will be delivered from the plant’s tank farm through a technological pipeline directly to the tankers, which eliminates spills into the sea area. The first stage is the construction of the hydraulic structure.

“The main part of the marine terminal structure is its pile foundation, part of it is located on the shore and part of it is located in the sea. Erection of the pile foundation is one of the most important stages, the reliability of the entire structure depends on proper installation. The piles above the sea level are connected by a concrete foundation frame, and all utilities, pipelines and equipment will be located on top of this structure,” says Nikolay Kononov, Head of the Marine Terminal Construction Department.

A total of 287 piles will be installed at sea and 9 more on land. The length of each pile ranges from 11.5 to 39.2 metres. The length of the terminal will be 424 metres, the occupied water area: 38.3 thousand square metres. The planned cargo turnover is 1.8 million tonnes of methanol per year. The terminal will be able to receive up to 105 vessels annually, with a methanol loading capacity of 1,400 tonnes per hour.