Fighting and temporary truces

As forecast in the June 2013 issue of WorldCargo News (p1), Global Ports Investments (GPI), in which APM Terminals (APMT) and Russia’s N-trans are co-controlling shareholders, each with a 37.5% stake, is to acquire the Russian operations of National Container Company (NCC), currently controlled by Andrei Kozbar and Vitaliy Yuzhilin (Quantum Ports/ First Quantum).

A new block train service has been launched by Russia’s Global Container Service (GCS) and its intermodal affiliate Ruscon out of the new Ust-Luga Container Terminal (ULCT), which is operated by National Container Company. It will run a distance of over 1100 kms to Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia’s fifth largest city located around 400 kms to the east of Moscow.

Today, when more than half of all world freight is shipped in containers, most Russian cargo is still transported in bulk. Containerisation rates in Russia are significantly lower than those in the EU; the numbers are almost reversed. According to World Bank statistics, in 2010 container port traffic in Germany and the Netherlands reached 14.6M TEU and 11.3M TEU respectively, while all Russian ports handled only 3.1M TEU.

There is a view, promoted by DCT Gdansk, that the Asia-North Europe trade lane is splitting into two: Asia-west ports and Asia-Baltic. Bolstering this argument, DCT will soon receive direct weekly calls by the G6 Alliance (“Loop 3”), to add to the weekly calls by Maersk’s E-class AE10 string.

Russian TOS supplier Solvo has won a contract to deploy its automated systems at the new Ust-Luga Container Terminal (ULCT) in Leningrad, Russia, which is being developed by The National Container Company (NCC).

Plans put “on hold” during the recession are back on the agenda and new schemes have also emerged.