Stena Line and TransContainer open railway ferry service between Scandinavia and Russia

International ferry operator Stena Line and railway operator TransContainer have completed testing of the line service between the Swedish Gothenburg (North Sea) and Russian Samara (Volga river), Stena Line says in its press release. Multimodal transportation of containers under single responsibility from the point of dispatch to the point of destination is arranged with the use of Swedish railway from Gothenburg to Nynäshamn (freight port in Stockholm), then ferry to Ventspils (Latvia) and railway (1520 mm) towards Russia, Central Asia and China. 

“This innovative service appeared in our transport in response to the requirements of consignees who earlier used a conventional chain of delivery: plant-sea-railway, - says Aivars Taurins, Regional Director for the Baltics, Russia and the CIS countries at Stena Line. - transshipment frequently resulted in cargo damage, transit time fluctuations complicated planning of loading in Samara and lead to overstocking.”

According to Aivars Taurins, the risk of damage is eliminated for containerized cargo, railway and ferry schedule guarantee fixed transit time – 14 for carloads and container loads and half of it for a complete train.  Idle time at border crossings is reduced to zero as all the procedures take 30-40 minutes for trains. 

Stena Line considers the new service to be a step towards ‘unmanned’ technologies – transportation of containers semitrailers, automobile containers or swap bodies by multimodal chains without drivers. These technologies will considerably improve efficiency of transportation in post-soviet area, especially in Russia with those long distances. “Unmanned technologies let decrease expenses for work-force and rolling stock, minimize idle time and balance cargo flows,” Aivars Taurins comments. 

Joint line service of Stena Line and TransContainer links the industrial areas of Scandinavia and the central manufacturers of Russia, Central Asia and China. It is the first application of this principle in multimodal railway-sea chains.

Ventspils (Latvia) – Nynäshamn (Sweden) route is more available for customers from spring 2014 with 6 runs per week. It is the shortest way from the eastern shore of the Baltics to Scandinavia: travel time is 11 hours. Ferry capacity is 2,300 m (115 – 120 trucks depending on cargo type), 5-m high hold provides a possibility to transport oversized and heavy-weight cargo (like industrial equipment).

The ferry service is the most profitable alternative for transportation of containers as they can be delivered from Ventspils to any point of Russia by railway and from Nynäshamn to any point in Scandinavia by all types of transport.  

Stena Line and TransContainer transport not only loaded containers but also empty ones in both Gothenburg and Nynäshamn. So the united service customers have access to the rolling stock. Customers of Stena Line are provided with e-booking opportunity and discounts for their long-standing partners. 

Stena Line is a ferry operator with 22 routes and 38 vessels in operation. The majority of Stena Line’s 30 terminals are either owned or managed by the Company. In 2013, Stena Line transported about 2 mln freight units with the major leap (5-fold increase) made in the Baltics: from 20,000 to over 100,000.

TransContainer OJSC operates as a subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC from 2006. It is Russia’s leading intermodal container operator owning 46 terminals in Russia’s major freight centers. The Company also runs container terminal Dobra on the Slovakia-Ukrainian border and controls 50% of KedenTransService, leading private operator of railway terminals in Kazakhstan. Moreover TransContainer is the largest in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states owner of specialised rolling stock  – it operates about 62,000 large capacity  containers and more than 26,000 railcars.