Russia’s Fesco Transport Group (part of the Far Eastern Shipping Company ) will increase the number of vessels operating on the direct sea line between St. Petersburg and Indian and Chinese ports from four to six from January 2024.
Fesco is a large Russian port operator with railway and logistics businesses. The company manages a container fleet of over 150,000 TEU and over 10,000 flatbed rail cars. The group’s fleet includes more than 30 vessels, which operate primarily on the company’s own shipping lines.
Georgi Remezov, a director of Fesco Integrated Transport LLC in St. Petersburg said that “The target value of the service is to form a fleet grouping of six vessels. At the beginning of next year we will hit this target and will be able to provide a regular running every 12 days.”
Currently, four vessels with a capacity of about 2,500 TEU each operate on the Fesco Baltorient Line (FBOL) in both directions along the St.Petersburg – Mundra – Ningbo – Shanghai – Qingdao route.
Remezov said that Fesco also plans to supply a second vessel to the Fesco India Line (FIL). Currently, one vessel operates in both directions on the Mundra-Nava Sheva-Novorossiysk route. When the second vessel joins the line, the frequency of service will increase to once every two weeks.
There are additional shipping services between India, China, and Vladivostok. Russian trade with China is set to reach in excess of US$200 billion this year while its trade with India is expected to reach US$50 billion. Both figures are record highs with continuing expansion likely.
Fesco has also opened shipping routes between Alexandria in Egypt and Novorossiysk on the Black Sea.
