CONTAINER SERVICE WILL CONNECT PORTS OF ASIA AND EUROPE VIA THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA AND RUSSIAN SEA TERMINALS
The new global trade route along conventional Trans-Siberian Railway
MAERSK and MODUL freight forwarding company have launched the new international container through service from Asia to Europe using Global Ports’ sea terminals in the Baltic and in the Russian Far East. The joint project of the leading transport companies is implemented as part of development of expedited transit via the territory of the Russian Federation.
On 7 August, 2019 the initial shipment was delivered from Asia to the EU ports within frames of the new service. The total transit time is 18 days, which is twice as fast as the time of conventional sea transit via Suez Canal.
The first delivery included containers with electronics and component parts from Korea and Japan. They were transported by Maersk’ container ship SCIO SKY to berths of Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company (a Global Ports Group company), transloaded at the terminal, and travelled with an expedited block train along the Trans-Siberian Railway to the terminal of JSC PetroLesPort (another Global Ports Group company). The railroad transportation was organized by MODUL freight forwarding company. The transit time from VSC to PLP was 9 days.
Container train reached the terminal of PLP on 4 August. From there, Maersk shipped the consignment to Gdansk.
In the framework of this joint project, Maersk organizes the through carriage between Asia and Europe, the terminals of Global Ports provide handling in Russian ports, and Modul arranges the railway delivery and customs clearance of goods.
“The newly launched route is a game changer in transcontinental container transit. For the first time ever, containers from Asia reached consignees in Europe in such a short time using key benefits of Russian ports, railroad network of RZD, and liner services of Maersk. We expect that this new route will open up unprecedented opportunities for trade between Asia and Europe via the territory of Russia and will be highly appreciated by our customers,” said Zsolt Katona, Head of Maersk Eastern Europe.
“We are constantly working to improve the quality of transport services through the use of advanced transportation technologies and are pleased to inform that, in cooperation with the Russian Railways, we have successfully trialed the completely new logistics service – fast block train loop service, thanks to which European goods will get to Asia, and Asian goods - to Europe, promptly and smoothly,” noted Alexander Altshuller, General Director of Modul.
“The Russia entry point of a new transit service was the container terminal of Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company in the Russian Far East, and the exit point – the PetroLesPort terminal in Saint Petersburg. Implementation of a unified service quality standard on the basis of technological capacities of Global Ports’ terminals provided our partners with prerequisites for launch of the new global route of transportation,” stressed Vladimir Bychkov, General Director of Global Ports. - “Logistics projects of this kind allow not only to reduce shipping time and cost for the benefit of shippers and consumers, but also to open up transit potential of Russia and enable its integration into international traffic”.
The new service will complement the product portfolio of Maersk as АЕ-19 (Asia-Europe-19) and will be available for its customers worldwide. The service is offering reliable and quick scheduled delivery of international cargoes via the territory of Russia, and will be of interest for Asian shippers, first of all from the countries that have no land borders with Russia, such as Korea, Japan, South-East Asia. The new route will help to significantly reduce the time of transit and ensure steady supply of goods to Northern Europe. The service is expected to be requested for the delivery of a wide variety of cargoes of time-sensitive nature and particular about qualitative delivery.