Coal Company Zarechnaya is to acquire 100% of the equity in Baltic Coal Terminal (BCT), which operates at the Latvian port of Ventspils. The news, which has only recently come to light, refers to an agreement initially signed on 15 February 2013, although this has not yet been acted on.
The mining company, which operates in Russia's Kuzbass region and is one of the country's five largest exporters of thermal coal, currently holds a 50% stake in the terminal. As for BCT, it handled 4.799mt (million metric tonnes) of coal in 2012, exporting it to markets in the UK, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. It has a static capacity of 210,000 tonnes, although can handle up to 6mt of coal annually.
To date, €80 million has been invested in the terminal.
BC