First transatlantic line between Latin America and Russia opened

On March, 22 in the Big port of St. Petersburg on the container terminal “Petrolesport” the transatlantic cargo line for the route Guayaquil (Ecuador) - Panama canal - Rotterdam - Bremerhaven - St.-Petersburg (project “Ecubex”) was solemnly declared opened. Prime minister of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and his Danish colleague Lars Lekke Rasmussen participated in the event. The minister of the industry and the competitive policy of Ecuador Ksaver Abad, the minister of transport of the Russian Federation I.Levitin also attended the ceremony.
The project “Ecubex” is the first direct transoceanic route of freight traffic between Russia and Latin America. Direct ocean service will be carried out once a week by means of six new container vessels of the strengthened ice class that were constructed in 2009-2010, with the capacity over 2,5 thousand TEU, each with big refrigerator capacities onboard for a long-term storage of goods. Transportation time will make 20-21 days. The capacity of the first vessel Maersk Niamey which arrived on March, 22 makes 2,5 thousand TEU. It is even more important that vessels of an ice class will be able to sail on the opened route. It will allow to transport goods all the year round which is important as St. Petersburg is a freezing port and not any ocean vessel without ice protection can sail here regularly all the year round.
The fact that it is the first direct route from Latin America to Russia makes this new service unique. Earlier these kinds of voyages were carried out with a feeder component. This means that cargoes were carried through the ocean on “Panamax” vessels to Europe and further were unloaded in one of the ports of Europe (accumulation / distribution hub). And only then goods were delivered to Russia on “complementary” fleet. The more similar lines will be opened, the more important role the port of St.-Petersburg will play and eventually will turn into a similar hub for the Russian Federation.
Tests of trans-oceanic vessels coming to Saint-Petersburg began on January, 25. And the first call of the ocean container vessel Maersk Nimes from Ecuador was carried out in December, 2009. Both largest container terminals of Saint-Petersburg are included in rotation: “Petrolesport” (PLP) and “The first container terminal” (FCT).
The operator of the line is the Danish company Maersk Line, the world's largest container carrier which possesses more than 500 vessels and 2 million of 20-feet containers. The company already works in the Russian market and has branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok, Kaliningrad. The share of Maersk Line on the Russian market of container transportations makes 20 %. Investments of the company into the new project are about $45 million.
This project is important for Russia mainly from the point of view of the transport infrastructure development which is being well invested at the moment. Last year, for example, the transport industry of Russia received about 800 billion rubles.
The creation of the direct route Ecuador - St. Petersburg opens new markets for the Russian exporters who can deliver equipment to coal mining areas of Chile, fertilizers to Ecuador and Colombia, foodstuff to Central America and the countries of Caribbean basin, loading container vessels on the way back. And the Russian export will get not only to the South America as the European ports lay on the route.
The main advantage for Russia is the rising volume of fresh fruits being imported from Latin America. As the prime minister of Russia V. Putin declared on the opening ceremony of the line, the increase of import also means lower prices for goods, including tropical fruit. And as transportation period decreases, and the necessity to transfer goods through the neighboring countries disappears, it reduces the price of all the production process. Besides, from the business point of view, this line allows the small Russian companies to participate in the import of fruits from the Western hemisphere whereas before this task could only be implemented by the leaders of the market that rented entire ships.
We shall notice that Ecuador is the largest supplier of this kind of foodstuffs to Russia, and bananas are one of the basic articles of export. There is an annual demand of about 7 kg of bananas per person in Russia, 6,3 kg of which are from Ecuador. Not far behind Ecuador is Chile, another South American exporter of fruits. Certainly, there will be space on the new route for its kind of products, too. Chilean nectarines, peaches, grapes and apples are not new at the Russian market. Russia has become the third biggest market for Chile in fruit import.
At the moment the goods turnover between Russia and its basic trading partners in South America is rather low and makes only about 1,5 % of all goods turnover. After introduction of the new route it is expected that goods turnover in 2010 will grow approximately by 5-15 % comparing to 2009.
Transferring of containers is the most perspective activity for Petrolesport. Now the capacities allow to transfer 1 million TEU. Later it is planned to reach the level of 2,3 million TEU. Thus the container turnover of Petrolesport, one of the largest stevedore companies of St. Petersburg, will increase by 40 % in comparison with the similar period of the last year, and the average growth of the Big Port will be by 32%. The state invested a lot of money and efforts in strengthening of the access to the port by joining it with a ring highway and launching the first section of the Western high-speed diameter to help stevedores to develop transfer of goods. Besides, Russian Railways invested a great sum of money into the increase of carrying capacity of the railway. The seaport administration carried out dredging after which vessels of Panamax-type can be accepted in Petrolesport.
According to the minister of transport I. Levitin new service of Maersk Line opens additional long-term possibilities for railways as the considerable part of container turnover from the terminal then goes by steel highways. He also noticed that new service will promote the increase of container turnover and attract new cargo owners. Besides, the transport ministry suggests to combine the control of cargoes with loading-unloading of containers in the Russian seaports that will cut the time of goods processing.
The new technology StarCare patented Maersk Line which allows to transport goods in refrigerator containers instead of traditional packing in holds of refrigerator fleet is used on this new service. For a carrier the service of this kind goes along with a new type of containers which allows to keep fruit fresh much longer, than traditional freight container. Earlier fruit delivery was carried out by refrigerator vessels by large bulk shipments. The goods safety was far less than it was desired, and fruits were uploaded unripe. New containers StarCare CA, as the company confirms, can keep excellent quality of a product within 45 days. System StarCare regulates temperature, humidity and oxygen level in the container.
The use of new containers can cause some changes in logistics of sea transportations. It can lower turnover of such ports as Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp where containers are overloaded on feeder vessels that deliver them to other ports of the Baltic Sea. The participation in the world transoceanic system of transportations is of the basic value for Russia. Russia can try to take a bite of the sweet “container pie”.
The world output of bananas is comparable to rice, wheat, corn and potato. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in 2007 the world output of bananas corresponded to 1/3 of the world output of potato. Ecuador, Costa Rica, Philippines and Colombia make 64 % of the world import of bananas. Ecuador alone provides about 30% of import. In the Russian import structure of fruits bananas take a leading position. Bananas make 14,4 % of the total amount of fruits import, 12,8 % of which are Ecuadorian.