China’s OVP Shipping Recommences Container Services To Kaliningrad

China’s OVP Shipping has resumed regular container services from China to Kaliningrad, with shipments from Qingdao (China’s east coast) to Kaliningrad commencing from March 8.

The move comes as Lithuania has restricted road and rail transport to Kaliningrad by another 30% from 2024 volumes in political attempts to squeeze the Russian territories supply chains. Kaliningrad has had to increase maritime deliveries as a result which are more expensive. Moscow is subsidizing the costs.

OVP Shipping connects East China ports with St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk and Vladivostok and was one of the first to launch direct scheduled ship calls to Kaliningrad in early 2023. The service was temporarily suspended and resumed this March.

The resumed service involves the Silk Spirit container ship with a capacity of 1,768 TEU. After calling at Baltiysk (Kaliningrad port) and offloading cargo, the vessel proceeds to St. Petersburg, loads with Russian produce and heads to Alexandria (Egypt) and several Chinese ports at Nansha, Ningbo, Shanghai and Qingdao.

Alexey Gagarinov, a director of Sea Shipping (a subsidiary of OVP) commented that the resumption of direct container service indicates the strengthening of trade and economic ties between Russia and China and is an important step in the development of commercial shipping links with the Kaliningrad Region. According to him, the container turnover of Kaliningrad increased by 67% in 2024 and reached 253,000 TEU, despite Lithuania’s attempts to disrupt trade.