November December 2019 Marina World

NEWS FOCUS
To be or
not to be?
Russia’s
biggest marina
Vladislav Vorotnikov reports
A new state-of-the-art marina earmarked for construction in Balaklava Bay
in Sevastopol will be the biggest and most expensive in the country built to
date, according to a draft project published by the Russian Government on its
website in early September.
With an estimated investment cost of
Rub7.2 billon (US$110 million), the new
marina will cover 13,270m² (15,871yd²)
and have 600 berths for yachts up to
75m (246ft), the government said. As of
today, there are very few marinas able to
accept yachts of this size in the country.
The competitive bidding procedure
to conduct survey and design works
for the project was won by Russian
company Stroygazmontazh, a
construction giant that previously built
the Crimean Bridge - which spans the
peninsula with mainland Russia - for
Rub228 billion (US$3.5 billion).
Construction of the Balaklava marina
was originally mooted by Russian
president, Vladimir Putin, in 2016.
Speaking at a press conference at the
time, he stressed that such important
infrastructure would contribute to the
development of sea sports and yachting
tourism in the peninsula. Speaking
later, however, Mr Putin admitted that
construction was pending because a
broad range of auxiliary infrastructure
also needed to be built.
The new marina would be part
of the complex Balaklava Bay
development programme, worth Rub20
billion (US$300 million), according
to Russia’s Infrastructure Projects
Agency. The government agency has
commissioned Russian designers from
Artemy Lebedev Studio to prepare a
concept for the project.
Some local news outlets have
reported that preparations for the
project have already started. The entire
mooring area should be cleared of
fishermen’s infrastructure during 2019
and several yacht clubs in the area are
due to be eliminated, according to local
news outlet Krymr.
Questionable feasibility
An important obstacle to the project,
however, is that it is very unlikely
to contribute to the development of
nautical tourism in Crimea, despite the
beliefs of government officials.
As of today, visiting Crimea and
staying in any of its marinas is
considered by the Ukraine’s prosecution
office to be a criminal offence. Since
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014,
the Ukraine Government considers the
peninsula to be ‘a temporary occupied
territory’, and it is putting a lot of effort
into arresting all international ships
calling at its ports.
The Russian Transport University
earlier estimated that the number of
non-Russian ships in Crimea is already
close to zero, the only exception being
some commercial Turkish vessels.
In addition, tensions have been
growing on the sea border in the past
year. Ukraine customs officers have
detained Russian fishermen and the
Russian State Security Service has
detained some Ukraine patrol boats;
in both cases, allegedly, for illegally
crossing the border. Both countries
continue to use aggressive rhetoric and
talk of using naval vessels to better
control shipping in the region.
The big question appears to be
whether this project could prove to be
anything other than a loud statement,
commented a source from the local
yachting industry who wished not to
be named. “The truth is that Ukraine
yachtsmen are not visiting Crimea any
longer, and only an insane boat owner
from Europe would come here under
the current circumstances. So, for most
of the year occupancy at all existing
marinas in Sevastopol and Simferopol
is below 50%. It is hard to say that they
rake in money and it is very unlikely
that this will get better in the years to
come,” he added.
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