Stormy pier

Peterhof lives not only with fountains, but also with scandals. The passenger pier near the museum-reserve has been in a fever for a month and a half now. No, the sea pier itself is still in order, although it needs repairs and reconstruction, but tour operators and shipowners cannot divide it among themselves. Just look, you'll have to saw the piers piece by piece...

Is it time to cut the mooring lines?..

The pier at the “Russian Versailles” is a rich place. As professionals say, in the “high season” more than 6,000 people per day can be transported from the center of St. Petersburg and back by high-speed ships; A one-way ticket costs about $5, so you do the math. Of course, there are plenty of people who want to get their hands on this segment of the market... Meanwhile, the “harbour of discord” in question, despite the fact that there have been attempts to privatize it, is still state property and is on the balance sheet of the Peterhof State Museum.
Museum workers have plenty of other worries, so at the beginning of May 2003, on the eve of the anniversary celebrations, the management of the GMZ transferred its berth to the commercial management of Passenger Port OJSC. The tender was not held, since the Port (whose 100% shareholder is OJSC North-Western Shipping Company) was allegedly the only contender for this role. True, the heads of competing ship-owning companies - CJSC Davranov Travel and Elien Shipping - claim that the corresponding applications from them were received by GMZ back in late 2002 - early 2003. Maybe they got lost?.. One way or another, the Port soon delegated the authority for administrative and service maintenance of the berth to its subsidiary - the travel company Russian Cruises LLC, which became the “general carrier” by sea to Peterhof and Strelna during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the city and the international summit of heads of state.
The VIPs skated brilliantly. The turn of ordinary tourists has come. “Elien” and “Davranov” also decided to take a piece of the “fountain” pie. But that was not the case: “Russian Cruises” set a fee for one approach to “their” berth of “foreign” ships in the amount of about $200 - excluding VAT. “Strangers” say that this is pure robbery.
According to the calculations of Alexei Gakkel, chairman of the board of directors of the Elien holding (which, in addition to shipping and tourism, is involved in construction, as well as cellular and satellite communications), such tariffs will cost his structure alone at least $2 - 2.4 thousand per day. And for what? According to the same Mr. Gakkel, cosmetic repairs of the pier will require only about $20 thousand a year. The excess profits that, according to this version, a commercial firm will receive from managing state property are impressive. However, how much the offended shipowners still estimate the possibility of mooring at the coveted berth remains unclear. On the one hand, they were satisfied with the price of the previous season: 500 rubles for a one-time approach. At the same time, according to their data, even this is too expensive, and current prices are 30 to 40 times higher than the city average.
The “Battle for Peterhof”, which started in mid-June, reached its climax these days. Over the past period, the heads of the companies “Elien” and “Davranov” filed a huge number of complaints: to the Territorial Administration of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support, to the city prosecutor’s office and the local transport prosecutor’s office, to the Committee for Tourism and Resort Development of the St. Petersburg Administration, to the embassy... But even in “Russian Cruises” they did not waste time. As it turned out, the company filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to recover “amounts of unjust enrichment.” From the point of view of Cruise executives, competitors are obliged to pay them about $5,000. Considering the previous mathematical calculations - a drop in the Baltic Sea... According to Alexey Gakkel and the general director of Davranov Travel, Viktor Davranov, the numbers were taken from the ceiling, and what Cruises wanted was something completely different: a monopoly until the end of the season. And, judging by the result, they achieved it.
In early August, the court, by its ruling, prohibited the Meteors and Voskhods, owned by Davranov and Elien, from approaching, mooring and mooring at the pier in Peterhof. Messrs. Davranov and Gakkel believe that it is not necessary to comply with this determination for two reasons: firstly, the court documents, in their opinion, contain a large number of errors, not to mention the fact that the ban has been in effect since August 2, and the defendants were informed about this only on August 5. Secondly, oddly enough, it turns out that back on July 15, the management of the Peterhof GMZ yielded to the companies Davranov and Elien and entered into an agreement with them for the operation of the northern part of the pier. And this despite the fact that the contract with the Port for the operation of the entire berth expired only on August 7. In general, there are a lot of questions for lawyers, meanwhile, the security services of Russian Cruises, citing the courts, physically do not allow competitors to work. As representatives of “Davranov” and “Elien” reported at a briefing urgently convened at the ABN press center on Liteiny, tourists are not allowed off the ship for half an hour or more to the ball, and then they are not allowed to leave Peterhof, forcing them to get wet in the pouring rain. Partner travel agencies are refusing the services of Davranov and Elien, the latter are counting millions in losses.
It’s interesting that all the other participants in this multifaceted conflict “crawled away” under various pretexts, leaving several entrepreneurs to “fight to the death” (if you believe Davranov and Gakkel, these days Cruise security is literally cutting the mooring ropes with an ax). Thus, Elena Mezinova, General Director of Passenger Port OJSC, who was announced as a speaker at the briefing, “could not arrive”, having sent a statement of her position by fax. From this position, the demands of “Russian Cruises” “do not seem legal and justified,” moreover, the actions of “Cruises” “cause material damage and moral harm” to both the museum-reserve and the joint-stock company headed by Mrs. Mezinova. At the same time, she emphasizes that Russian Cruises is a separate legal entity, which means it has the right to independently apply to any authorities. An interesting detail: since the end of April this year, the general director of Russian Cruises, Olga Kargina, has also been in charge of the Passenger Port. But two months after her appointment - as soon as the “Peterhof” scandal began to flare up - she was deprived of her new position. However, perhaps this is just a coincidence... Chief Engineer of GMZ Alexander Schneider, who was also on the list of speakers at the meeting with journalists, did not even send a fax. The leaders of the local regional branch of the Russian Union of Travel Enterprises (RST), an organization that, in theory, should be vitally interested in a speedy and peaceful resolution of the problem, also categorically refuse to comment. “Sergey Korneev (vice-president of the RST - V.S.) will speak out on this matter. But only in October,” the union’s public relations service responded to Novaya Gazeta. The trial is expected to take place approximately in mid-autumn. By this time the navigation will be completed...
But the second main party to the conflict was not only not invited to the briefing, but, according to Russian Cruises manager Elena Zakharova - who learned about the “intrigues” from her own sources and managed to attend the event at the last moment - they were not even notified that it would take place. True, she still wasn’t allowed to speak, but she was allowed to distribute information materials on behalf of the company. The document, which does not have any identifying marks, states, in particular, that “Cruises” applied to arbitration only on July 31, while enforcement proceedings against “Elien” and “Davranov” were initiated for some reason on July 4. At the end of the briefing, the legal snags made the sharks feel seasick... One thing was clear: according to Russian Cruises, they, unlike their competitors, act strictly within the legal framework and in the interests of tourists. By the way, according to Ms. Zakharova, there are already cases of injuries to passengers, which is to blame for the “uncontrolled and chaotic movement of ships in the specified water area.”
Just on the day of the briefing, August 8, the museum-reserve hastily concluded a new agreement with the Passenger Port for the use of only the southern part of the pier. It turns out that now “Russian Cruises” and their competitors should divide the “golden” pier like brothers and calm down? But no! The leaders of “Cruises” are confident that the conclusion of separate agreements for the use of the berth in parts is contrary to Russian legislation, and are ready to challenge these agreements, because “the berth is a single hydraulic structure and cannot be serviced by several persons at the same time.” The logic is obvious: it is enough to create a precedent and five more people will immediately come running. Or fifty. And what - measure out ten centimeters for everyone?.. Messrs. Gakkel and Davranov, in turn, notified the press that they had filed a counterclaim against Cruises for damages, and would also insist on the lifting of the prohibitory measures.
Meanwhile, heated battles in the city of fountains are gaining momentum. Employees of Davranov and Elien, among other things, even say that they are allegedly threatened with physical harm. True, the representative of the City Tourist Information Center Andrei Berezkin urges journalists “not to focus on criminal aspects.” “There is no need to scare our guests. On the contrary, invite them to us!” - says Mr. Berezkin... A good beginning for such an invitation suggests itself: “If you love extreme tourism...”

Valeria STRELNIKOVA
photo Alexey VYSOTSKY