New airline service of "Kingwall Look Asia"

Most international liner companies have drastically reduced their operations in Russia since the conflict broke out. A number of Russian freight forwarders have recently launched their own liner services linking their domestic ports with those in China and India.

Russian freight forwarders Inteco and Swift Transport Group have both set up liner subsidiaries to provide regular container shipments between Russia's Vostochny port and Chinese ports.

Russian freight forwarder Modul has also launched services linking the Big Port of St Petersburg with Nhava Sheva, India's largest Port.

According to reports, Russian freight forwarder Inteco has opened two air route services connecting Russian Vostochny and Chinese ports by setting up its subsidiary Inteco Lines.

The first line service connected ports including Dongfang Port, Lianyungang Port, Qingdao port and Busan port. A 489TEU ship "Shun Yue 19" was deployed for this line service with a round-trip time of two weeks.

Another shipping line connects Dongfang Port and Ningbo port, deploying ships "Shun Yue 13" and "Shun Yue 18", both capable of carrying 264 TEUs. In addition, the line can also pick up goods from other Chinese ports if needed.

Inteco Lines said it was planning to add more ships or charter larger vessels to increase its port calls at Shenzhen and expand its reach.

According to Global Ports, Swift Line, the liner subsidiary of Russia's Swift Transport, has launched regular service linking Russia's Vostok port with Tianjin and Taicang Ports in China.

The new service deploys a multi-purpose vessel "Sol Hongkong" built in 2007 that can carry over 650TEU of cargo, including 30 freezers. The service is provided two to three times a month with delivery time of four to five days from Dongfang to Tianjin and Taicang ports.

In addition, a third Russian forwarder, Modul, has launched a container service linking the port of St Petersburg with Nhava Sheva, India's largest port. The service deploys a ship with a capacity of 1,094 TEU and a delivery time of 25 days.

Alexander Altshuller, CEO of Modul, said that it is pleased to launch the pilot project of direct container service between Russia and India and is significantly expanding its container fleet with a view to deploying these container ships on announced routes as well as those planned for later launch.

Albert Likholet, chief executive of Global Ports Group, said: "In recent months, a shortage of container ship capacity in the Baltic has disrupted international traffic in north-west Russia. We expect there will be demand in both import and export terms for the new service from Petrolesport to India."

Fleet capacity for scheduled intra-European liner services deployed in St. Petersburg has fallen from 96,400TEU in early February to 15,700TEU as of June 1, according to Alphaliner.