FESCO completes first export voyage from Novorossiysk to port of Jeddah on Red Sea

MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - FESCO Transportation Group, which is under Rosatom state corporation's control, made its first export voyage from Novorossiysk to the port of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on the Red Sea with Russian cargo for consignees from the Arabian Peninsula countries, the group said.

The vessel call took place as part of the regular FESCO Indian Line West (FIL-W) shipping line. The group's container ship delivered timber industry products, equipment and food products. The containers will then be sent by road to various countries in the region, including the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

"In this way, thanks to a single intermodal chain through the port of Jeddah, FESCO provides logistics coverage for key markets of the Arabian Peninsula in both export and import directions," the group said.

As part of the service, the group also carries out container removal from the port of Jebel Ali (UAE) to the port of Jeddah, which helps maintain supply stability in the region amid shipping restrictions through the Strait of Hormuz, FESCO said.

The next voyage from Novorossiysk to Jeddah is scheduled for May.

"Against the backdrop of the tense situation in the Strait of Hormuz area, FESCO is consistently diversifying routes to maintain supplies to the region. Developing transportation via the Red Sea allows us to provide broad logistics coverage of the region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, for both export and import shipments. This strengthens our position in one of the key centers of world trade and demonstrates the capabilities of Russian logistics," the deputy general director for the Line-Logistics Division of FESCO German Maslov said.

As reported, FESCO made its first direct vessel call of a sea container service at the port of Jeddah in March. The vessel call was made as part of the FESCO Indian Line West shipping line; after handling at the port of Jeddah, the group's vessel continued its voyage along the FIL-W service route and headed to Novorossiysk.

FESCO Transportation Group owns assets in the port, railway and integrated logistics business. FESCO owns PJSC Commercial Port of Vladivostok , the FESCO Integrated Transport intermodal operator, the Dalreftrans refrigerated container operator, as well as the Transgarant and FESCO Trans companies.

The group manages terminal complexes in Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Tomsk, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad. The company manages a container fleet of over 200,000 TEU and nearly 15,000 flat cars. The group's fleet includes more than 30 vessels, which operate primarily on the company's own shipping lines. In November 2023, a controlling stake in FESCO (92.5%) was transferred to Rosatom by a decree of the Russian president.