New line services launched from Novorossiysk by about ten companies after foreign operators left Russia
Development of cargo transportation to India, Vietnam and Israel is underway
New line services between Novorossiysk and Turkey have been launched by about ten companies, Aleksey Garmash, General Director of Novomorsnab Ltd., transportation and forwarding company, said at YugTrans Forum.
FESCO, TransContainer and Ruscon presented their services at the forum.
With global container lines having hated their operation in Russia, local players have been encouraged to intensify launching of their services. Turkey is among the key directions for Russian cargoes amid sanctions. Apart from Istanbul, TransContainer has organized services to Ambarly (4 times per month), Samsun (6 times per month) and launched a service to the port of Mersin in July (twice a month). According to Yevgeny Babich, Director of TransContainer’s North-Caucasus Railway Branch, the calls are stable with fully loaded ships.
In April 2022, FESCO launched its Turkey Black Sea service (FTBS). Later, FESCO announced its plans to increase cargo transportation by FTBS linking the ports of Novorossiysk and Istanbul. “Its export/import capacity is 120 TEU now but in august we expand the ship capacity to 420 TEU. In Novorossiysk, we call at NUTEP terminal, in Istanbul – at Kupmort terminal,” said Nelli Vladimirova, Director FESCO’s Novorossiysk branch.
According to the forum participants, cargo transportation to India and Israel is also being developed.
“At first, India was less obvious destination for many. Practicing with Turkey no one was initially considering Indian ports as points of destination. Now, everybody sees how it works. However, it should be understood that the key factor of launching/non-launching of any service is a balance between export and import. Eventually, launching of any service in any direction is not a problem today, everything is obvious and clear. But there are directions for exports without a possibility to ensure import in the opposite direction. Let’s take Egypt. There is an enormous demand for grain shipments while 90% of imports from there is refrigerated cargo which cannot be delivered in non-refrigerated containers. Therefore, it does not work. The run of empty containers should be taken into account,” said Ilya Dirkonos, Commercial Director of Ruscon.
Major international operators including Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), CMA CGM, Hapag Lloyd and ONE stopped calling at Russian ports after the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
Related links:
FESCO to increase cargo transportation by its service between Novorossiysk and Istanbul >>>>
Inbound sailings to Black Sea ports are up 16% compared to the period before February 2022 >>>>
TransContainer launches new multimodal service between Russia and Turkey >>>>