The Port of Saint-Petersburg

The first ship called at St. Petersburg in 1703. Since then a new port has

begun to grow very rapidly. In 1704 a big shipyard of the Chief Admiralty was

founded. In 1721 a galley harbour was built on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, later

it was transferred into the mouth of the Neva River. In 1885 the Morskoy Canal

leading to the entrance of the sea commercial port was constructed. The length of

the canal is 15 miles.

The port of St. Petersburg is easily approached by sea-going vessels as well

as by coasters. The piers of the port are designed for handling of export and import

cargoes. The port is equipped with a large number of self-propelled electric gantry

cranes, floating cranes, various loaders and other modern cargo handling facilities.

Goods are stored in warehouses, grain elevators, cold-stores and concrete

platforms. The port has a container terminal.

There is a shipyard to repair vessels. Spare parts and fuel are available in the

port. The port of St. Petersburg is open for navigation all the year round as the Gulf

of Finland freezes only for a short period of time. Powerful ice-breakers conduct

the ships into and out of the port when the Neva and the Gulf of Finland are

covered with ice.

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Ecology

Ecology is a branch of science concerned with the problem of our

environment such as water and air pollutions, global warming, radiation, waste

problems and others. People all over the world understand the growing danger to

the ecological balance of the Earth and demand their governments to take measures

to protect the planet against this danger.

There are some specific ecological problems in St. Petersburg. Our city is an

industrial center; its population is about 5 million people. 41 per cent of the city

area is occupied by factories and plants and some of them dump waste into the

Neva River. We cannot drink water without purification. Another problem is the

nuclear power plant in Sosnovy Bor which can influence background radiation,

water pollution and nature distraction.

The Baltic Sea is a special case. 250 rivers run into the Baltic. Most cities

pour their waste into the seas and rivers and it influences the state of the sea water

and the shore flora and fauna.

The task of all the countries in the Baltic basin is to prevent oil pollution of

the sea, to organize rational shipping and preservation of sea life.

Water Pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of lakes, rivers, oceans and ground

water caused by human activities which can be harmful to organisms and plants

that live in these water bodies. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly

into water without treating it first.

Many towns still pour their sewage straight into rivers with treatment

beforehand. This can kill the rivers’ life by removing all the oxygen from the

water. Without oxygen none of the fish in the river can live. Factories often cause

water pollution by pouring poisonous wastes into streams and rivers. Farming can

also cause water pollution. The chemicals used by the farmers to protect crops get

into rivers and kill fish.

Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been

suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases and that it

accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.

Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, storms and earthquakes also cause

major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water.

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Cargo Handling in the Ports

At present all modern ports are equipped with various mechanisms that do

the jobs of loading and unloading. Goods are now delivered at greater speeds and

possible damage has been brought to the minimum. Mechanization of cargo

handling insures efficiency of loading and discharging and reduces demurrage.

Cargo handling equipment includes rail-mounted cranes, fork-lift trucks,

mobile and floating cranes, elevators, conveyors, excavators, etc. They apply

various handling methods. A fork-lift truck is used to lift, convey and stack loads.

Pallets and special containers are widely used in ports for handling cargo by fork-

lift trucks. Unit loads that cannot be palletized are handled by stationary and

mobile cranes.

Mobile cranes are capable of moving across the length of the quay. These

cranes move only on rails but nowadays a lot of cranes are equipped with ordinary

wheels with air-tires and steering gear. There are bridge cranes at transloading

points. Much work is done by speedy level-luffing self-propelling electric quay

cranes. Very often a combination of ship’s gear and quay cranes is used to

facilitate cargo operations.

Gantry (Portal) Crane

Today all modern ports have various cargo handling facilities that do the job

of loading and unloading cargoes. Among the cargo handling equipment there are

elevators, conveyors, electric cars, trucks, cranes and other appliances.

Cranes are suitable for variety of jobs and are of many types and different

capacities. The type of a crane widely used for cargo handling is a gantry (portal)

crane.

A gantry crane is a hoisting appliance mounted on a gantry (frame). Gantries

may be arched, bridged, half or full.

A crane that has a trolley running on the bridge gantry is called a bridge

gantry crane. Gantry cranes may be portable or fixed. The bridge gantry of the

portable crane is mounted on a traveling carriage platform and is constructed for

operating on tracks. Fixed cranes rest directly on the ground and are used on

particular locations.

The bridge gantry crane is capable of handling heavy loads due to the long

span of the bridge. But especially suitable this type of a crane is in container

handling. It can do marshalling, transferring and stacking jobs.

Gantry crane is mostly applied to outdoor service for handling both bulk materials

and general cargoes, for transporting heavy freights, for shipbuilding, etc.