Economy of Saint Petersburg

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The busy St Petersburg docks at dawn StPetersburgDocks.JPG
The busy St Petersburg docks at dawn

St. Petersburg is a major trade gateway, financial and industrial center of Russia specialising in oil and gas trade, shipbuilding yards, aerospace industry, radio and electronics, software and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military equipment, mining, instrument manufacture, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys), chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, publishing and printing, food and catering, wholesale and retail, textile and apparel industries, and many other businesses.

10% of the world's power turbines are made here at the LMZ, which built over two thousand turbines for power plants across the world. Major local industries are Admiralty Shipyard, Baltic Shipyard, LOMO, Kirov Plant, Elektrosila, IIzhorskiye Zavody; also registered in St. Petersburg are Gazprom Neft [ citation needed ], Sovkomflot, Petersburg Fuel Company, BaltGaz Group, and SIBUR among other major Russian and international companies.

St. Petersburg has three large cargo seaports: Bolshoi Port St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, and Lomonosov. International cruise liners are served at the passenger port at Morskoy Vokzal on the west end of the Vasilevsky Island. A complex system of riverports on both banks of the Neva river are interconnected with the system of seaports, thus making St. Petersburg the main link between the Baltic sea and the rest of Russia through the Volga–Baltic Waterway.

Former Saint Petersburg Bourse Spb 06-2017 img05 Spit of Vasilievsky Island.jpg
Former Saint Petersburg Bourse

The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mints in the world, it mints Russian coins, medals and badges. St. Petersburg is also home to the oldest and largest Russian foundry, Monumentskulptura, which made thousands of sculptures and statues that are now gracing public parks of St. Petersburg, as well as many other cities. Monuments and bronze statues of the Tsars, as well as other important historic figures and dignitaries, and other world-famous monuments, such as the sculptures by Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Pavel Antokolsky, and others, were made here.

Toyota is building a plant in Shuishary, one of the suburbs; General Motors and Nissan have signed deals with the Russian government too. Automotive and parts industry is on the rise here during the last decade. Saint Petersburg is known as a "beer capital" of Russia, due to the supply and quality of local water, contributing over 30% of the domestic production of beer with its five large-scale breweries including Europe's second largest brewery Baltika, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken Brewery, Stepan Razin (both by Heineken) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-InBev). St. Petersburg has the second largest construction industry in Russia, including commercial, housing and road construction.

The federal subject's gross regional product as of 2021 was ₽9.44 trillion
(€108 billion), ranked second in Russia, after Moscow. [1]

Transport

The exquisite decoration of Saint Petersburg Metro Metro SPB Line1 Avtovo.jpg
The exquisite decoration of Saint Petersburg Metro

The city is a major transport hub. In 1837 the first Russian railroad was built here. Today St. Petersburg is the final destination of Trans-Siberian Railway, and a web of intercity and suburban railways, served by five different railway terminals (Baltiysky, Finlyandsky, Ladozhsky, Moskovsky and Vitebsky), [2] as well as dozens of non-terminal railway stations within the federal subject. Saint Petersburg has international railway connections to Helsinki, Finland, Berlin, Germany, and all former republics of the USSR. Helsinki railroad was built in 1870, 443 km, commutes 3 times a day, about 5.5 h. The Moscow–Saint Petersburg Railway opened in 1851, 651 km, commute to Moscow is 3.5-9 h. [3] Saint Petersburg is also served by the Pulkovo International Airport, [4] and three smaller commercial and cargo airports in the suburbs. There is a regular 24/7 rapid bus transit connection between Pulkovo airport and the city center.

The city is also served by the passenger and cargo seaports in the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, the river port higher up Neva, and tens of smaller passenger stations on both banks of the Neva river. It is a terminus of the Volga–Baltic and White Sea–Baltic waterways. In 2004 the first high bridge that doesn't need to be drawn, a 2824 m long Big Obukhovsky Bridge, was opened. Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Petergof, Sestroretsk and Zelenogorsk from May through October.

Saint Petersburg has an extensive city-funded network of public transportation (buses, trams, trolleybuses) and several hundred routes served by marshrutkas . Trams in Saint Petersburg used to be the main transportation; in the 1980s, Leningrad had the largest tramway network in the world, but many tramway rail tracks were dismantled in the 2000s. Buses carry up to 3 million passengers daily, serving over 250 urban and a number of suburban bas routes. Saint Petersburg Metro underground rapid transit system was opened in 1955; it now has 5 lines with 64 stations, connecting all five railway terminals, and carrying 2,8 million passengers daily. Metro stations are decorated in marble and bronze. It is the world 12th underground under the number of passengers.

Traffic jams are common in the city, because of narrow [ citation needed ] streets, parking sites along their edges, high daily traffic volumes between the commuter boroughs and the city center, intercity traffic, and at times excessive snowing in winter. Five segments of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road were opened between 2002 and 2006, and full ring was finished in August 2011.

Saint Petersburg is part of the important transport corridor linking Scandinavia to Russia and Eastern Europe. The city is a node of the international European routes E18 towards Helsinki, E20 towards Tallinn, E95 towards Pskov, Kyiv and Odesa and E105 towards Petrozavodsk, Murmansk and Kirkenes (north) and towards Moscow and Kharkiv (south).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf of Finland</span> Arm of the Baltic Sea

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg in Russia to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn. The eastern parts of the Gulf of Finland belong to Russia, and some of Russia's most important oil harbors are located farthest in, near Saint Petersburg. As the seaway to Saint Petersburg, the Gulf of Finland has been and continues to be of considerable strategic importance to Russia. Some of the environmental problems affecting the Baltic Sea are at their most pronounced in the shallow gulf. Proposals for a tunnel through the gulf have been made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise</span>

Pulkovo Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company was an airline with its head office in Moskovsky District, Saint Petersburg, Russia. It operated the Pulkovo Airport and was 100% state owned. It was the third largest airline in Russia. On 29 October 2006 it completed a merger with government owned Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company to form a new company under the Rossiya name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leningrad Oblast</span> First-level administrative division of Russia

Leningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. The oblast has an area of 84,500 square kilometres (32,600 sq mi) and a population of 2,000,997 ; up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Census. Leningrad Oblast is highly industrialized. Its administrative center and largest city is Gatchina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulkovo Airport</span> International airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia

Pulkovo Airport is an international airport serving St. Petersburg, Russia. It consists of one terminal which is located 23 km (14 mi) south of the city centre. The airport serves as a hub for Rossiya Airlines and as focus city for Smartavia. It is responsible for serving the citizens of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast: a total of 6,120,000 people. It is the 29th-busiest airport in Europe in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kotlin Island</span> Russian island in the Gulf of Finland

Kotlin is a Russian island, located near the head of the Gulf of Finland, 32 kilometres (20 mi) west of Saint Petersburg in the Baltic Sea. Kotlin separates the Neva Bay from the rest of the gulf. The fortified city of Kronstadt is located on the island and forms part of a World Heritage Site that is Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. The island serves as a gateway to Saint Petersburg and as such has been the site of several military engagements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Petersburg Dam</span> Flood control dam complex near Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex, unofficially the Saint Petersburg Dam, is a 25 km (16 mi) long complex of dams for flood control near Saint Petersburg, Russia. The dam extends from Lomonosov northward to Kotlin Island, then turns east toward Cape Lisiy Nos near Sestroretsk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pskovavia</span>

Pskovavia was a passenger and cargo airline based in Pskov, Russia. It operated international and domestic charter passenger and cargo services as well as regular scheduled flights between Pskov and Moscow. Its main base was Pskov Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, as well as buildings and ensembles located in the immediate vicinity as a World Heritage Site in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Petersburg Ring Road</span> Road in Russia

The Saint Petersburg Ring Road is a 142 km orbital freeway encircling Saint Petersburg, Russia. The city's only beltway, it is listed in the Russian road numbering system as federal public highway A-118.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway</span> Railway line in Finland and Russia

The Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway is a 385-kilometre (239 mi) long segment of the Helsinki–Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Saint Petersburg</span>

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject located in the Northwestern Federal District of Russia. It stands at the mouth of the Neva River at the east end of the Gulf of Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">October Railway</span> State-owned railway company in Russia

Oktyabrskaya Railway or October Railway is the subsidiary of RZD, servicing railway lines in the north-west of Russia. It stretches from Moscow's Leningrad Terminal in the south to Murmansk beyond the Arctic Circle in the north. The total length of the lines is over 10,000 km. The headquarters are located in Saint Petersburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Port of Saint Petersburg</span> Industrial port in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Great Port of St. Petersburg or Port of St. Petersburg is a major seaport serving the city of St. Petersburg in northwest Russia. The port's water area is 164.6 km2. The mooring line is 31 km long and the water is 25 metres (82 ft) deep at the port's deepest anchorages. Since 2011, the port has been under the authority of a state-owned enterprise, the Port Authority of the Great Port of St. Petersburg. This agency oversees commercial navigation in the seaport of St. Petersburg and beyond in the designated areas of responsibility of the Russian Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Petersburg</span> Federal city in Russia

Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of roughly 5.6 million residents as of 2021, with more than 6.4 million people living in the metropolitan area. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As Russia's Imperial capital, and a historically strategic port, it is governed as a federal city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Saint Petersburg</span> Overview of and topical guide to Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg – second-largest city in Russia. An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has the status of a federal subject. Its name was changed to "Petrograd" in 1914, then to "Leningrad" in 1924, and back to Saint Petersburg in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Ports</span>

Global Ports stands as the foremost operator of container terminals in the Russian market boasting impressive throughput capacity and container turnover. Global Ports’ terminals are located in the Baltic and Far Eastern basins. These areas serve as pivotal hubs for foreign trade cargo flows within the Russian Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecting Line</span> Historical railway line in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Connecting Line is a historical railway line in the southern part of Saint Petersburg, Russia, that may be considered the initial step in the process of forming a unified Russian railway network. It was constructed in 1853 and started operation in 1854. Before that, Russian railways consisted only of several separate lines connecting a few major cities. Decades later, in the first half of the 20th century, the line was merged with the later-built neighboring Putilovskaya Line, also known as the Port Line, and was lengthened to the city's northern territories forming the so-called Northern Semi-Ring and the consequent massive Saint Petersburg railway hub.

References

  1. ""GRP volume at current basic prices (billion rubles)"". rosstat.gov.ru.
  2. Until 2001, the Varshavsky Rail Terminal served as a major station, it is now converted into a railway museum.Reconstruction of the Warsaw Railway Station Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Results of train ticket inquiry, Russian train schedules and Russian train tickets". Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  4. Rossiya (Pulkovo): Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Archived August 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine