MSC remains the key container shipping company operating in Russia, according to the report of Linerlytica. Meanwhile, new players in the Russian market offer new routes and directions.
“Freight rates to Russia remain highly elevated and new capacity continues to flow into the Russian trade with the latest newcomers Safetrans, Torgmoll/New New, Reel Shipping and OVP Shipping adding ships to the trade as congestion at the Russian Far East gateways of Vladivostok and Vostochny have generated demand for new services from Asia to the Black Seaand Baltic gateways of Novorossiysk and St Petersburg. MSC retains a considerable presence in the Russian trades with feeder operations in all 3 Russian gateways while the other key European carriers have withdrawn completely from the market,” reads the report.
As for newcomers, Hong Kong based OVP Shipping launched a new Baltic Sea direct service that connects Qingdao, Ningbo, Taicang, Nansha, St Petersburg, Qingdao in January 2023. Reel Shipping launched a new Damietta to St Petersburg service to take advantage of the high demand for Russian imports from Asia via transhipment at Damietta. The service started from 24 January 2023 and deploys 5 ships of 1,730 teu to 2,700 teu. Sailing frequencies are irregular at the moment, ranging from 2 days to 16 days.
Safetrans Line, an affiliate of Transfar Shipping, announced a new St Petersburg Direct Service from China. Both Safetrans and Transfar are owned by Worldwide Logistics, in which Alibaba has a minority stake. The St Petersburg Direct Service will connect Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Tangier (irregular), St Petersburg, Qingdao. It will operate initially on a fortnightly basis with the intention to turn into a weekly service from April. The first voyage will be performed by the newly chartered 3,469 teu HENG HUI 2 and she will be joined by 3 chartered ships from Zhonggu of 3,398 teu to 4,872 teu that are being transferred from Transfar's transpacific service.
Containership charter market activity is picking up with carriers pushing ahead with new capacity plans despite the soft freight market. Maersk continues to lose ground with the highest number of ships idled at the moment while MSC is still taking on fresh charters and second hand acquisitions despite also having a number of idled ships. Demand is mismatched across different sizes, with the surplus ships over 5,000 teu still rising while smaller ships are in high demand.
Infographics from the website of Linerlytica