Maersk Group resumes container shipping from Greater Odessa ports

MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - Maersk Group, the world's leading container shipping company, is launching the first container service to the Greater Odessa ports after the crisis broke out in Ukraine, Ukrainian media quoted the Loadstar publication as saying in a report.

The company is using an 1100+ TEU container vessel to connect the Chernomorsk port with Romania's Constanta container terminal as part of its cooperation with the Ukrainian feeder operator Iteris, the report said.

"In April, Iteris and Maersk delivered empty containers for exporters and delivered full cargo containers to Constanta for transshipment. Arkas, CMA CGM, Evergreen and MSC are sharing space in the service," representative of the Odessa-based consulting company Informall BG Daniil Melnichenko said.

He assumed that shipments will double in the next few months due to more shipping companies joining the transportation. With the increase in the number of ships, the service is likely to bypass the Romanian gateway, and containers will be shipped directly to Ukraine from Egypt and Turkey, as it was before the crisis.

Iteris and Maersk also cooperated in barge transportation, shipping containers between another Ukrainian port on the Danube, Reni and Constanta, but the launch of the deep-sea service resulted in its abandonment, with the last voyage expected to be made on this route on June 15.

At the same time, Turkish shipping company Akkon launched feeder service by its own vessels at Chernomorsk.

This is the only carrier offering its own vessels to serve the port, but it has already been serving the Danube port of Izmail, so it may have some advantages, Melnichenko said.

"It has been sailing to and from Izmail since the beginning of the crisis. Its volumes are expected to be significant as customers are switching to larger vessels and improving scheduling," he said.