Port Of Vladivostok News

President Vladimir Putin signed on Wednesday a decree transferring to Russia's state nuclear power company Rosatom state-owned shares of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, parent company of transportation group Fesco.Fesco was formerly controlled by Ziyavudin Magomedov, who was convicted last year on organized crime and embezzlement charges and is serving a 19-year jail sentence following one of the highest-profile prosecutions of a Russian tycoon in years.Magamedov says the charges are unfounded and is appealing his conviction.

Russian tycoon Ziyavudin Magomedov, jailed at home in Russia, has launched a London lawsuit seeking nearly $14 billion over his holdings in valuable port operators, which he says were seized as part of a state-backed conspiracy.The businessman filed the lawsuit at London's High Court on July 20 against several defendants, including Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom, oil pipeline operator Transneft, private equity firm TPG, and UAE-based port operator DP World.Magomedov…

Russia on Friday begins laying its first undersea fiber optic communications cable through the Arctic as part of a state-run project to bring high-speed internet to its remote hydrocarbon-rich north after a private-led initiative stalled.Moscow is aiming to improve patchy communications and infrastructure in its far north where it has expanded its military presence and is developing the Northern Sea Route to become a major shipping lane.The cable link, due to be completed in 2026…

A new ferry line between isolated North Korea and its neighbour Russia docked for the first time at the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok on Thursday. The ferry's Russian operators say it is purely a commercial venture, but it coincides with what some academics say is a drive by North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, to build ties with Moscow in case its closest ally China turns its back. Journalists were unable to see passengers disembarking from the ship, the North Korean-flagged Mangyongbong, because Russian officials kept them away from the quayside, citing unspecified security reasons. Reuters television was able to speak to three passengers, who said they were representatives of Chinese tourism agencies.

North Korea launched a ferry service to the Russian city of Vladivostok on Wednesday to develop links and boost economic cooperation, the North's state media said, as it faces increasing isolation over its weapons development. Experts have said North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, may be hoping closer ties with Russia would help if China, the North's main economic benefactor, steps up sanctions against it over its weapons programmes, in defiance of U.N. resolutions. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that while Moscow was opposed to any new countries acquiring nuclear weapons…

The second phase of the Russian-Chinese Joint Sea-2015 naval maneuvers has officially ended outside the port of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East, says spokesman for the Eastern Military District Roman Martov. "Today, the exercise commanders from the Chinese and Russian sides announced in their joint headquarters the end of the Joint Sea-2015 (II) drills," he said in an official statement. "The exercise marks not only the first time People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Russian Navy have drilled together in an amphibious exercise but also the first time China has landed troops on foreign territory as part of the ongoing Joint Sea 2015 II, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said.

Russia’s renewed focus on the commercial shipbuilding industry was set as a key aim by Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev in his recent discussions on the development of the sector through 2015. The 2015 impetus on competitive opportunity coincides with the 13th International Maritime Exhibition and Conferences of Russia – NEVA 2015. This event provides a collaborative, global platform to promote Russia's Commercial Shipbuilding, Ship Equipment and related Maritime industries. Various industry ministries have been charged with analyzing industry prospects until 2030…

A summit of leaders from 21 Pacific-Rim countries may have implications for Inmarsat customers transiting Russian waters. Under Russian law, customers using Inmarsat BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband services must register if travelling in Russian waters, land or airspace around the port of Vladivostok and Russky Island while the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) Leaders' Week meeting is taking place between 2-9 September 2012 on Russky Island, located in Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan. Apec is a forum that seeks to promote free trade and economic co-operation through the Asia-Pacific region. Information must be supplied by 28 August 2012 either by email or fax.

As the maritime industry seeks to expand its presence into Arctic waters, a report today from Russia may be cause for pause.According to an Itar-Tass report, more than 600 crewmembers are aboard the 10 vessels trapped in the ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. According to the news agency, distress signals have been received from the Sodruzhestvo fishing mother ship and the Professor Kizevetter scientific research vessel. All their attempts to get to the clear water have failed, the state sea rescue coordination center reported. The temperature in the area is 22 degrees below zero, and according to the forecast, it will fall lower. A distress stage and the rescue operation beginning have been declared in the region.

Reports indicate that Motor ship Diana that sent distress signals from the Sea of Japan has about 4,000 tons of cargo aboard. The ship, which flies the Cambodian flag and has an 18-strong Russian crew, has scrap metal in the holds and timber on the deck. The piles of timber have shifted and are partly hanging overboard, said Konstantin Sviridov, the chief of Maritime Salvage and Coordination Center in Vladivostok. The Diana called out of the port of Vanino in Khabarovsk territory Sunday and headed for Japan, but in the small hours of Wednesday it sent a distress signal and turned towards the major Russian commercial port of Nakhodka, not far from Vladivostok.