The railway ferry complex in Baltiysk of the Kaliningrad seaport celebrates the 10^th anniversary of the beginning of commercial operation of the complex.

Ten years ago the first contract was signed with an operator of the ferry service to carry out loading and unloading operations during the call of ferries working on the route Ust Luga – Baltiysk – Sassnitz (Germany).

The construction of the railway ferry complex had started in 2004 in the water area and on the territory of Basin No 4 in Baltiysk and lasted for two years. The construction has become a landmark event for Russia.

The priority of the construction of the railway ferry complex is to ensure uninterrupted service between the Kaliningrad region and the main territory of the Russian Federation by using design transport vessels of Rider and Mukran-103 types.

During the construction, priority attention was paid to using advanced technology, including in organizing the operating process. The test knurling of railway carriages was successfully conducted aboard the Klaipeda ferry and the Baltiysk ferry in 2006.

The railway ferry complex was put into operation on September 10, 2006. The ferry service between Ust Luga and Baltiysk was opened under the direct participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For 10 years of commercial operation the railway ferry complex has been accumulating big experience in accepting and processing ferries of different types and transferring of different cargoes.

The traffic department of the Kaliningrad Directorate of the North-Western Basin Branch railway ferry complex performs maintenance of the ferry complex.

Deputy Director of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch Andrei Moshkov, who is also chief of the Kaliningrad Directorate, was one of the originators of this service and he became its first chief. “The personnel of the complex involving high-class specialists exerts joint and concerted efforts to solve all problems set forth during its work,” Moshkov said.

Annually a total of 229 vessels are being operated at the railway ferry complex. The average amount of annual cargo transshipment through the railway ferry complex exceeds one million tons.

Prospects for further development of the railway ferry complex are associated with the plans for construction of three new sea ferries linking the railway ferry complex and the ferry complex located in the seaport of Ust Luga.

They will help bring cargo turnover to three million tons on this route.

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Railway Ferry Complex in Baltiisk, Kaliningrad