Sri Lanka Added To Russian Maritime Service Between Shanghai and St. Petersburg

Russia’s Transit Transport Group, (TTG) one of Russia’s largest shipping companies has expanded its ‘Fetled Express’ marine service from Shanghai to St. Petersburg, adding the Sri Lankan port of Colombo to the route.

The service directly connects China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Russia and is part of the Asia-Russia intermodal transportation chain. The full route of the sea line: Shanghai – Ningbo – Nansha – Ho Chi Minh City – Colombo – Istanbul – Novorossiysk – Istanbul – St. Petersburg – Kaliningrad.

Ships pass along this complete route in about 40 days from Shanghai.

In China, TTG also serves Dalian, Xingang, Qingdao, Zhapu, Ningbo, Nansha, Shàntóu, Xiàmén and Shanghai. In Sri Lanka, the Colombo Port City is a Chinese investment made as part of its Belt & Road Initiative programme at a cost of about US$15 billion. “The Port of Colombo, located on a strategically important sea route, enables rapid connectivity between the growing economies of South Asia. With its state-of-the-art infrastructure, it ensures high speed and reliable cargo handling. This makes it an ideal transport hub for companies looking to shorten delivery times and reduce logistics costs. Cooperation with Colombo Port will improve logistics processes and expand opportunities for realising our customers’ business solutions. Regular schedules and on-time delivery; short and predictable transit time, wide federal network, availability of empty equipment, cargo tracking are the main priorities of the international logistics company Transit”, said Boris Puzynin, Head of Marine Line Department.

Transportation is carried out in the senders and Transit Line containers. The range of goods includes a wide range of cargos, including dangerous, refrigerated, and bulky goods.

TTG processes 300,000 TEU annually, with a fleet of 20 ships of various tonnages amongst 40,000 containers. The company uses its container terminal, which is one of the largest terminals in the Far East, based in Vladivostok. TTG also uses its railway fleet of 3,000 special platforms for the transportation of containers and a vehicle fleet including 350 special container ships and tractors of various modifications. The company employs about 2,000 people.

Russia has one of the largest maritime fleets in the world, with an officially recognised number of about 2,900 significant vessels operating under the Russian flag. The true figure is likely to be far higher however and possibly up to 10,000 vessels given Russian-owned ships operating under different flags and its recent acquisition of a 600-strong estimated ‘shadow shipping fleet’ to service sanctioned energy products. Russia has also embarked on a vigorous shipbuilding programme and is having ships built at its shipyards and in India. 24 warships were delivered to the Russian Navy this year while Russia also aims to add 100 commercial vessels of various sizes per annum for the next five years.