Port of Murmansk

Murmansk Commercial Seaport (Russian: Мурманский морской торговый порт) is a seaport located on the eastern shore of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea in the city of Murmansk. The port ranks fourth in Russia in terms of processed goods and the second largest in the north-west of Russia (after the port of St. Petersburg). Murmansk seaport is one of the largest ice-free ports in Russia is the backbone of the economy of the city. The port is managed and operated by JSC Murmansk Commercial Port. April 22, 2013 the company acquired 47.67% EuroChem shares Murmansk Commercial Sea Port. Seaport has 13 berths and is equipped with the modern handling facilities: 52 gantry cranes with the capacity up to 40 tn, 1 shiploader for handling of apatite concentrate with the capacity more than 1000 th tn/hour, 113 units of fork trucks with the capacity from 1.5 to 32 ton. On April 2013, 49.86% of the shares are owned by SUEK. Both companies are controlled by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko.

By the beginning of World War I, the only two Russian ports in the northwest were Arkhangelsk and St. Petersburg (later renamed Petrograd). However, after the blocking of the Ottoman Empire's straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to outside shipping and blockading of the Baltic Sea port of St. Petersburg, the Russian Empire could only use the northern port of Arkhangelsk. This port had limitations: when winter presented itself, navigation and shipping of any sort came to a halt. Therefore, it was decided to build a new port. The chosen location was in Murmansk due to its ability to accommodate sea traffic year-round, proximity to existing communities and relative easeto connect it to the empire's expanding railway network.

The first planned work began in early July 1915 and, on September 1 of the same year the steamer "Drott" with a cargo from New York was able to moor to a temporary jetty port. The first train to the port arrived approximately one year after the railway was built to Kandalaksha.

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