Port Kavkaz (Russian : Порт Кавказ) is a small harbour on the Chushka Spit in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, on the eastern side of Kerch Strait. It is adjacent to the village of Chushka, which is now largely deserted due to toxic effects of the port.
The port is able to handle vessels up to 130 metres (430 ft) in length, 14.5 metres (48 ft) in breadth and with draft up to 5 metres (16 ft). [2] It was the eastern terminal of the railroad and car Kerch Strait ferry line connecting Krasnodar Krai with Crimea (the western terminal of the ferry line is Port Krym). It is served by a railway line and the Port Kavkaz railway station. The southern zone of the port has been under renovation to increase the port's throughput to 4 megatonnes (3,900,000 long tons; 4,400,000 short tons).[ clarification needed ]
In August 2014 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government order to enlarge the area of the port with the aim to increase cargo transportation volumes with the use of large ships. The borders of the port were changed to add a deep-water area south of the port of Taman for large ships to anchor. Plans included an additional 15–18 anchor places for loading large ships. The additional area is 18.4 km2 (7.1 sq mi) with depths of 26–27.6 m (85–91 ft). [3]
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the end of May 2024 Ukrainian missiles struck an oil depot at the port, which stored oil products bound for Crimea. [4] Two railway train ferries were damaged in May. [5]
In a July attack the MV Slavyanin railway train ferry was damaged. [5]
On 22 August 2024, a rail ferry carrying wagons of fuel was struck by a Ukrainian missile in Port Kavkaz. [6] [7] One source suggested a Neptune missile hit the MV Conroe Trader ferry. [5] Simultaneously the Kerch Bridge was closed due to a "missile threat". [8] [5]
Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of 147,033 .
The Sea of Azov is an inland shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Russia on the east, and by Ukraine on the northwest and southwest. It is an important access route for Central Asia, from the Caspian Sea via the Volga–Don Canal.
The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is 3.1 kilometres (1.9 mi) to 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) wide and up to 18 metres (59 ft) deep. The most important harbor, the Crimean city of Kerch, gives its name to the strait, formerly known as the Cimmerian Bosporus or Straits of Taman. It has also been called the Straits of Yenikale after the Yeni-Kale fortress in Kerch.
Krasnodar Krai is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Krasnodar. The third most populous federal subject in Russia, it had a population of 5,838,273 as of the 2021 Census.
Port Krym is a port in Crimea. It is located on the western shore of Kerch Strait, in the north-eastern part of Kerch city near a settlement of Zhukivka. Next to the port is located the Krym railway station.
Alexander Nikolayevich Tkachov is businessman of the agribusiness group Tkachev Agrocomplex. He was a Russian politician who has served as Minister of Agriculture of Russia in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from April 2015 to May 2018. Previously he was Governor of Krasnodar Krai in the southern European part of Russia from 2001 to 2015.
Krasny Kavkaz was a cruiser of the Soviet Navy that began construction during World War I, but was still incomplete during the Russian Revolution. Her design was heavily modified by the Soviets and she was completed in 1932. During World War II she supported Soviet troops during the siege of Odessa, siege of Sevastopol, and the Kerch–Feodosiya operation in the winter of 1941–42. She was awarded the Guards title on 3 April 1942. She was reclassified as a training ship in May 1947 before being expended as a target in 1952.
Kavkaz may refer to:
Chushka Spit is a sandy spit in the northern part of the Strait of Kerch. It extends from Cape Achilleion and the town of Ilich to the south-west in the direction of the Black Sea for almost 18 kilometres (11 mi). Administratively, it belongs to Temryuksky District, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
The Crimean Bridge, also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea. Built by the Russian Federation after its annexation of Crimea at the start of 2014, the bridge cost ₽227.92 billion (US$3.7 billion) and has a length of 19 km (12 mi), making it the longest bridge in Europe and the longest bridge ever constructed by Russia.
European route E 97 is an A-class European Route in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey. The highway runs for 1,360 kilometres (850 mi) in total. It connects the North Black Sea region with the South Black Sea region along the eastern shores of the sea.
The Kerch Strait ferry line was a ferry connection across the Strait of Kerch that connected the Crimean Peninsula and Krasnodar Krai.
Kerch Marine Trade Seaport is one of the oldest ports of Black Sea located in the city of Kerch on the eastern shores of Kerch peninsula at Kerch Bay.
Port Kavkaz is a railway station at the Port Kavkaz seaport on the Chushka Spit in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
A dispute over Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait arose between Russia and Ukraine in 2003, sparked by unannounced Russian construction of a causeway from their side of the strait toward the island, which is Ukrainian territory. Russians offered various reasons for building the causeway, but Ukraine saw it as a threat to their territorial integrity. The dispute raised fears of an armed confrontation, but a settlement was negotiated.
The Kerch railway bridge, also called the Kerch Bridge, was a short-lived Soviet Russian railway bridge across the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. Constructed in 1944–1945 and demolished later in 1945, it connected the Chushka Spit of the Krasnodar Krai with the Kerch Peninsula of the Crimean ASSR. With a length of 4.5 km (2.8 mi), it was the longest bridge in the Soviet Union.
Taman is a seaport on the Taman Peninsula in area of Cape Zhelezniy Rog, in the village of Volna, near the village of Taman in Temryuksky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
Chushka is an abandoned village on the Chushka Spit in Zaporozhskoye Rural Settlement of Temryuksky District, in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is located beside Port Kavkaz, which includes the Kerch Strait ferry terminal, near the end of the spit.
Beginning in July 2022, a series of explosions and fires occurred on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, from where the Russian Army had launched its offensive on Southern Ukraine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Occupied since 2014, Crimea was a base for the subsequent Russian occupation of Kherson Oblast and Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Early in the morning of 15 December 2024, Russian-flagged oil tankers Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 were caught in a storm in the Kerch Strait. Volgoneft-212, which was reportedly carrying approximately 4,900 tonnes of fuel oil, split in half and sank, resulting in an oil spill and the death of one crew member. Volgoneft-239 sustained damage, causing the vessel to begin drifting for several hours until it ran aground near the Port of Taman, Krasnodar Krai. It too began leaking oil.