TransContainer launches service to ship cargo to China via Global Ports St. Petersburg terminal

MOSCOW. March 31 (Interfax) - TransContainer , a division of Delo Group, has begun shipping export cargo to China through the Global Ports Group's First Container Terminal (FCT) at the Big Port of St. Petersburg, the freight rail operator said.

The company plans to arrange shipments twice a month. TransContainer will provide its own well cars and arrange railway shipment within Russia. The sea leg of shipments will be arranged by Chinese company Torgmoll.

The service is intended for exporters of Russia's Northwest. The initial points of the route are the stations of Arkhangelsk, Chovyu (Syktyvkar, Komi), Nebolchi (Novgorod Region) and Shushary (St. Petersburg) and other possible locations in the region. Cargo transported by block-trains is consolidated at FCT, from where it is shipped to China (Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou ports), TransContainer said.

""The launch of the service opens up the possibility of resuming exports through the ports of the North-West, which used to be the usual route. Taking into account the increased load on the infrastructure of the Eastern range of Russian Railways, the new service has a number of advantages: for our customers it means a competitive delivery time in comparison with shipments via the Far East, and for TransContainer it means more efficient use of its rolling stock," TransContainer vice president for commerce Alexander Podylov was quoted as saying in the press release.

TransContainer, Russia's largest operator of well cars, has a fleet of 130,000 containers with capacity of about 200,000 TEU and 40,000 well cars to carry them. The company operates a network of 40 railway terminals in Russia. It also owns 58.67% of Sakhalin Shipping Company (Sasco) , which has 13 vessels. TransContainer is 51% owned by Sergei Shishkarev's Delo Group and 49% by state company Rosatom.