FESCO launches container shipping service between Egypt and Novorossiysk

MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - FESCO Transportation Group, the flagship of which is the Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO), has launched a regular shipping service, the FESCO Egypt Direct Line (FEDL), that directly links Alexandria, Egypt with the Russian port of Novorossiysk without entering transshipment ports, the Russian company reported.

The estimated transit time from Alexandria's El Dekheila Port to Novorossiysk is six days, as is the transit time in the opposite direction. The service, which will be operated by the FESCO Askold container ship with capacity of 1080 TEU, will run once every two weeks.

The service is intended primarily for shipping food and agricultural products in refrigerated containers. Most of the import cargo from Egypt will be vegetables, fruit and plant-based food products, while export cargo from Russia will consist of fertilizer and various chemicals, food products, grains and other agricultural products, as well as forest products.

The FESCO Askold made its first call on Alexandria on December 20. After being loaded with refrigerated cargo, the ship set sail for Novorossiysk.

FESCO, one of Russia's largest transport groups, has port, railway and integrated logistics businesses. The group includes the Commercial Port of Vladivostok (VMTP) , intermodal operator FESCO Integrated Transport, refrigerated container operator Dalreftrans, as well as Transgarant and FESCO Trans. FESCO operates terminals in Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Tomsk and Vladivostok, more than 170,000 TEU of containers and a fleet of over 11,000 well cars. Its fleet of 36 vessels operate primarily on the group's own marine lines.