New feeder service started by CMA CGM and FESCO to St. Petersburg

CMA CGM and FESCO have established a new, large volume, Baltic Sea feeder service between Hamburg and the second-largest city in Russia, St. Petersburg. In the weekly service, two 1A ice-class ships are in use, the EMOTION with a capacity of 1440 TEU as well as the 1730 TEU newly built CMA CGM VOLGA (alias FESCO VITIM).

The CMA CGM VOLGA, built by Polish shipbuilders Stocznia Szczecinska, is 184.70 meters long, 25.30 meters wide and has 250 connections for reefer containers.

The CMA CGM VOLGA is now the largest container ship that regularly calls at the Port of St. Petersburg. With a load-bearing capacity of 22,500t, the ship reaches a maximum draught of 9.90m and has a service speed of 19.7 knots. Besides the Eurogate, the CTH container terminal and the HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai in the Port of Hamburg, the ports in Antwerp and Zeebrugge will also be serviced.

St. Petersburg is the largest Russian port on the Baltic Sea. In the past five years, container traffic between Hamburg and St. Petersburg increased four-fold. Container traffic achieved a growth of 22 percent in 2007 and reached a volume of 730,000 TEU.

On average, there are 30 weekly departures in the direction of Russian Baltic Sea ports starting in Hamburg from 14 different feeder companies. The high departure density makes it possible for export loads to also be transported via Hamburg to Russia several times a day. Elbe Port continues to expand its position as the leading transit hub for Russia in sea-based foreign trade. Among the most important trade partners of the Port of Hamburg, Russia has now taken third place.<Korea Shipping Gazette>