New container transport line “Poland-Finland Express” launches operation in the Port of Riga
COSCO Shipping Lines, one of the world's largest container shipping companies, has launched operation of its container shipping line “Poland-Finland Express” at the Port of Riga. The Baltic Sea route of the new line is Gdańsk-Helsinki-Riga-Klaipeda-Gdańsk, returning to the Port of Riga weekly, the company said in its press release.
The decision of COSCO Shipping Lines to include the Port of Riga in its container transport line route confirms the competitiveness and capacity of the Port of Riga, ensuring high quality and speed of service.
COSCO Shipping Lines is owned by the Chinese shipping holding company COSCO and is engaged in international sea container transport. With a fleet of 361 container vessels (total capacity of 1.84 million container units (TEU)) and the 2.68 million containers owned by the company, COSCO Shipping Lines is currently the fourth largest container carrier in the world.
In 2018, the line “Poland-Finland Express” received the status of a regular shipping line at the Port of Riga, thus, at the moment, six container shipping lines are actively operating at the Port of Riga. Their various routes connect Riga with all the major ports of the Baltic Sea as well as the largest container transit ports in Europe.
“The launching of any new container line and initiating operations of new container carriers at the Port of Riga opens the way for new business activities and opportunities to grow container volumes at the port. In addition, it confirms that the Port of Riga has all the prerequisites for becoming a regional container transit centre in the Baltics – an advantageous location in the centre of the Baltics, high-quality port and terminal services, as well as a constantly growing volume of containers,” says Ansis Zeltins (Ansis Zeltiņš), CEO of the Freeport of Riga.
Last year, a record volume of containerized cargo was transhipped at the Port of Riga – 4.6 million tons of container cargo or 446 thousand container units (TEU) were transhipped through the port, reaching a new container cargo turnover record for the history of the port's existence (+ 13.5%). The Port of Riga not only recorded one of the largest cargo volume growths in the entire Baltic Sea region, but also managed to increase the port’s market share in the container transportation segment, reaching 9.8% of the total container volume.
