FESCO and China's Margin Group to open 7.3-bln ruble container terminal in 2025 near the bridge from the Jewish Autonomous Region to China

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 11 (Interfax) - The Far Eastern Shipping Company, FESCO and Chinese Margin Group plan to launch a transport and logistics complex near the Nizhneleninskoye bridge which connects Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region with Tongjiang in China in Q2 2025, Vice President for FESCO's railway division Aidemir Usakhov told reporters.

"The terminal is located in close proximity to the bridge on an area of 30 hectares. The design capacity is more than 350,000 TEU. All the groundwork is nearly 100% complete. We plan to complete it in Q2 2025, but this will depend on bureaucratic procedures. The border crossing will allow us to increase the total container turnover between countries 23-25%," he said during the Eastern Economic Forum 2023 on Monday.

FESCO's investment in the terminal will total nearly 7.3 billion rubles, Usakhov said. The Chinese partner will guarantee the volume of transportation from China to Russia.

The project involves the construction of a container inspection site, a railway station, water intake and treatment facilities, a container storage area and other infrastructure facilities.

"In order to establish a full-fledged logistics chain, it is necessary to develop infrastructure, which is what we and our partners Margin Group have done. A large amount of preparatory work has been completed. We started cooperating with Margin Group in 2022 at a border crossing in Kazakhstan, and reached a stable volume of 30-40 trains per month," Usakhov said.

As reported, the bridge at the Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang railway crossing is 2.2 km long. The bridge is designed for the alternating passage of trains on a track of two standards with widths of 1520 mm (Russia) and 1435 mm (China). The maximum throughput of the bridge is a maximum of 20 million tonnes of cargo per year. The first cargo was sent over the railway bridge in November last year.

The bridge makes it possible to reduce the cargo transportation distance to the northern provinces of China over 700 km compared to existing routes, and to increase trade between Russia and China.

FESCO transport group is a large Russian port operator with railway and logistics businesses. The company manages a container fleet of more than 150,000 TEU and over 10,000 flatbeds. The group's shipping fleet consists of over 30 vessels, operated primarily on its own shipping lines.