According to Interfax article published on April 7, 2023, JSC Petrolesport (PLP, located in the Great Port of St. Petersburg and part of the Global Ports group) will begin servicing a new direct container route from China and Malaysia in May, according to a Global Ports group statement.
The operator of the service is international sea carrier Mountain Air Shipping (MAS).
"As part of a joint service with Safetrans and OVP Shipping, MAS will provide regular delivery of imports to Russia and export shipments of Russian manufacturers' products via the Baltic basin," the statement said.
The first ship as part of the service left China on April 6. The voyage will last about 37 days. The route will be served by six vessels, with ships called at Petrolesport twice a month.
As reported, in 2022, container turnover at PLP was 133,000 TEU (a decrease of 66.7% compared to 2021).
Earlier in 2023, JSC First Container Terminal (FCT, located in the Great Port of St. Petersburg), a member of Global Ports group, also launched a regular container service of direct communication with China, the operator of which is the Chinese transport and logistics company Torgmoll.
Global Ports is the largest operator of container terminals in Russia. The company operates container and multipurpose terminals in Russia (Petrolesport, First Container Terminal, Ust-Luga Container Terminal and Moby Dick in the Baltic Sea, Eastern Stevedoring Company in the Far East) and two container terminals in Finland - in Helsinki and Kotka (under the management of Multi-Link Terminals Oy, a joint venture of Global Ports and CMA Terminals). It also owns the inland terminal Yanino Logistics Park near St. Petersburg.
