Within recent years Russia’s coal producers triple-increased their export volume. While in 2000 the annual export volume was estimated at 25 million tons, today the nation annually exports 90 to 100 million tons of coal.

The construction and operation of the Baltic Sea-port of Ust-Luga was a political decision, made to reduce exceeding costs that occurred whilst the export of Russian coal via the Baltic Sea ports of the nation’s riparian states. Ust-Luga’s port operation notably facilitates the Russian coal export into Western Europe.
At the same time Russia’s coal producers heavily invest into the construction of further export-harbours, e.g. in the Pacific, to press ahead with the coal export into South-East-Asia.

SUEK the biggest Russian coal producer with an annual production of 90 million tons of coal also constitutes the largest Russian coal exporter with a strong focus onto the South-East-Asian market.
Up to now SUEK has not possessed its own maritime export capacities. The company exported its products via facilities of its competitors. The hard price battle, the strong competition and the difficult export environment brought SUEK to invest into the construction of its own export harbour in Wanino, at the Russia’s East coast, at the Pacific coast.

Originally the project was developed for the export of high-quality coking coal from the Greenfield coal deposit ELGA in Jakutia.

In 2005, on the 2nd of September SUEK contracted TAKRAF (formerly MAN-TAKRAF) for the delivery of the equipment of the coal terminal Wanino. One month later the first advance payment was proceeded.
The Wanino project could only be realised, because TAKRAF helped SUEK obtaining a Hermes-Credit for a complete financing with 10 years duration after commissioning.
The scope of the order comprised three stacker/reclaimer, two ship loaders, and a discharging station including two wagon indexers and two wagon tipplers, as well as several belt conveyors with a total length of 4 kilometres. All equipment allows a coal handling with a continuous capacity of 3,500 tph.
The entire terminal system is of rugged construction and designed for the operation in extreme geological and climatic environment. Wanino is situated in seismic region 7. In summer time temperatures reach +39°C. The lowest temperatures in winter range down to –42°C. The supplied complex complies with high ecological requirements consisting of modern aspiration and dedusting systems.

Opposite to the Sakhalin-Islands in the bay of Mutschka (in the Khabarovsk region) we find Wanino, a town with approximately 20,000 inhabitants, most of them working in the harbour.
On the harbours pier tower  0 aged port cranes - it seems to be TAKRAF town. Because, some decades ago VEB TAKRAF (Eberswalde branch) already supplied pillar cranes to the Russian port of Wanino.
Five kilometres away from the town of Wanino, on a headland looming into the sea that has been used by Russia’s navy the new SUEK coal handling export harbour with the coal terminal has been erected.
Utilizing the premises first access routs were built, the railway system was extended und the idle lying surface was made usable. The subsurface of the terminal mostly consists of hard soil or rock that was removed by blasting. Naturally deep enough, the fairways had not been to deepen to facilitate the vessels‘landing.

At present, a complex has been mounted and put into operation that will work reliably, flexibly and durably – following the aim to handle 12 million tons of coal annually. In the coal handling port of Wanino vessels with a capacity ranging from 22,000 t up to 158,000 t can be loaded.

The coal terminal of Waning serves to handle hard coal. The coal is delivered by trains and discharged from the wagons by two wagon tippler. Discharge conveyors transport the coal through a screening and crushing station, passing a distribution point in tower 1 either towards the stacker/reclaimers that stack the coal onto piles in the stockyard or via further belt conveyors directly to the ship loaders. The combined stockyard equipment (stacker/reclaimer) can reclaim the coal to convey it via diverse distribution points further to the ship loaders. A belt scale and a metal search device are installed in the hopper discharge conveyors. Above the first two belt conveyors magnetic separators to remove ferrous material from the coal are installed on either side. Sample taking stations are erected besides the belt conveyors leading to the pier and the ship loading area, enabling a continuous quality control before loading the coal into the ships.
The dust emission inside the screening and crushing station and in the transfer towers is suppressed by de-dusting installations. The belt conveying system is controlled and operated from a control centre.
The wagon indexer, the wagon tippler, the stacker/reclaimers and the ship loaders have operation cabins for operating personnel who operate and control the equipment from the cabins. The ship loaders are equipped with a radio control to enable a steering of the ship loading process from the hatchway.
The wagon indexers also possess a radio control. All three stockyard belt conveyors are equipped with water and snow deflectors that facilitate removing the amassed snow or water from the belt hutch. Those deflectors are operated at in situ control points. Impeding dust pitting from the coal piles created by wind four mobile stockyard spray irrigation machines for summer operation and one mobile snow cannon for winter operation are available.

Medium-term, Russia’s coal producers plan the expansion of further Russian export harbours. Partly the projects are already in realization phase. Posjet and Wostochny are two ports to name. We assume that with a successful commissioning of the first coal terminal in Wanino further coal terminals for an increased export will be planned.