The Finnish-Icelandic port operator Containerships appears to have reached a provisional agreement with Russian officials in St. Petersburg in a dispute over plans for expansion in the harbour of Kronstadt.
Under the agreement, Containerships will relinquish its lease on a parcel of land under its control until the first of May 2009, in order to accommodate Russia's plans for the construction of a dam across the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland.
According to St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, Containerships has been given a guarantee that the land would be returned to it. However, the company's CEO Kimmo Nordström says that Containerships has agreed to the arrangement only on condition that it is modified to follow stipulations in Russian legislation. He says that as it is currently written, it cannot be entered into the registry of contracts.
Containerships has accused Russian construction authorities of trying to muscle the company out of the harbour.
