Novorossiisk Seaport
Novorossiisk Seaport
a large commercial port in the Soviet Union, located on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea, on Tsemes (Novorossiisk) Bay. It was established by a government edict in 1846. Although the first plan for construction of the port was approved in 1855, actual building was not begun until 1886. The port grew rapidly after it was linked with a railroad line in 1888.
The Novorossiisk Seaport was to a large extent destroyed during the Civil War of 1918–20. It was rebuilt in the 1920’s, and by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 it had become the most important port in the southern USSR. During the fascist German occupation (1942–43), the port was completely destroyed; reconstruction was completed by 1950. The following hydraulic engineering structures were built before 1965: piers no. 1 and no. 2, the petroleum storage depot, the oil dock, and the wharves of the lumber port and the fishing port.
The Novorossiisk Seaport is the largest port in the USSR for transshipment of petroleum and cement. It has a large number of wharves where oceangoing ships with general, liquid, and loose cargoes of the export-import and coastal trade are loaded and unloaded. The port has covered mechanized warehouses, a grain elevator, a refrigeration unit, numerous pieces of loading equipment, floating cranes, and automatic and electric loaders. The passenger terminal receives Soviet and foreign vessels. It serves hundreds of thousands of Soviet and foreign passengers and tourists annually. The port was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1923.
V. V. PONIATOVSKII