UAE-based port operator Gulftainer is planning to invest more than $275m to co-develop and operate a multipurpose cargo terminal at Ust-Luga near the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Ust-Luga will have capacity to handle 170Mt of cargo when fully developed; it will act as a key port gateway into the heart of Russia’s Baltic Western region and will provide an alternative to the relatively congested St Petersburg port.

The investment follows a joint venture agreement last year between Gulftainer and Prominvest, a state-owned Russian company, to spend up to $500m on the purchase of infrastructure assets in Russia and Eastern Europe.