Moby SPL looks into launching regular Saint-Petersburg – Kaliningrad line

Moby SPL is looking into resuming a regular Saint-Petersburg – Kaliningrad line in 2021 if coronavirus related restrictions on travelling abroad are extended, Sergey Kotenev, Director of the company, said at the webinar “All Ferries of Russia. The Baltic Sea” organized by PortNews. According to him, it will be a regular cruise for 6 days with a technical call in Stockholm for taking aboard new Scania and Volvo trucks. Every year, the company delivers about 3,000 trucks to Russia.

To launch the line, the company counts on privileges at the ports of call. However, there is no specialized cruise or freight/passenger berth in Kaliningrad (the Pinorsky project has been frozen). “Perhaps, we will find a berth in the Kaliningrad Region, may be in Baltiysk”, said the speaker.

If coronavirus constraints are lifted in 2021, the company will operate its regular lines under a standard schedule on Saint-Petersburg – Tallinn – Stockholm – Saint-Petersburg route and short tours to Helsinki.

Sergey Kotenev also said the departure is planned from the berths of the Marine Façade in Saint-Petersburg.

“The project on construction of a freight facility at the Marine Façade has been almost completed. We are currently working with the Marine Façade on the policy of tariffs for our company which is to be approved within November 2020 and then followed by contract signing. Today, it is already clear that the facilities of the new passenger port will be used in case of the ship return (return of the Princess Anastasia from Murmansk - Ed.). We will be able to make about 50 calls in Saint-Petersburg during the navigation season if a regular line is revived. If it is Kaliningrad, we will have a schedule of one call per week from mid-May till the end of September ... But we will need an administrative assistance of the Marine Façade and the authorities of Saint-Petersburg and Kaliningrad... Those can be any Ro-Ro cargo, long haul trucks with drivers, cargoes from Sweden can also be transported to Kaliningrad while Scania and Volvo trucks can be delivered to Saint-Petersburg as well as cargoes from Kaliningrad”, said Sergey Kotenev.

However, he noted, this project requires legal prerequisites in the part of visa regime and customs procedures.

The company also sees a vast potential of transportation to Germany via Kaliningrad as a transit port.