The new 7-years facility is provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance FESCO’s strategic investment program aimed at further boosting the Group’s infrastructure and container logistics capacity.
The use of loan proceeds will include investments into the development and retrofitting of Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port (VCSP) in order to improve its operational efficiency and throughput, focusing on high value added and cleaner types of cargo, with the emphasis on containers.
According to Yury Gilts, FESCO Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer , “ EBRD is a long-standing partner of FESCO and is well known for its adherence to promotion of better operational standards and higher efficiency across many industries, including transportation and infrastructure. The new facility will enable us to implement our plans to turn VCSP into a modern, environmentally friendly large-scale gateway servicing growing volumes of bilateral trade between Russia and Asia Pacific countries, while at the same time continuing to play an important role in transportation connectivity of the Russian Far-East.”
[mappress] World Maritime News Staff, November 28, 2011; Image: VMTP