Russia: Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company Included in Rotation of Zim Container Service

Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company (VSC, part of Global Ports Investments) LLC is now included in the rotation of the transcontinental line of ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, one of the largest ocean cargo carriers. VSC’s container terminal on June 6. completed the handling of the first-ever Panamax-class ultra-large container ship in the port of Vostochny’s history. The Pearl River 1 vessel with a capacity of 4,250 TEU is the largest container ship ever to visit the Russian Far East.

Pearl River 1 arrived in port Vostochny from Oakland’s port (USA) on 5 June 2011. The ship’s tonnage is 4,250 TEU (deadweight 50,689 tonnes) and its length reaches 260.6 meters.

Pearl River 1 is one of 14 ocean class vessels serving the transcontinental service of the ocean carrier ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (Israel). The company’s next ship to enter VSC’s terminal, Zim Panama, is expected in two weeks. Zim have scheduled four other ships’ entries for July. In addition to VSC, Zim Container Services’ rotation includes 24 ports located in North and Central America, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.

According to John Skurtis, General Director of VSC, Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company is the only Russian port for ZIM’s service in this area due to the terminal’s unique geographical position and the company’s ability to provide high quality and timely handling of ocean class vessels.

“This is the third ocean class vessel serviced by VSC over the last year”, – said John Skurtis. “Earlier, for example, we successfully handled Hansa Liberty ship with the capacity of 3,300 TEU, operated by Sinokor Merchant Marine Co. In addition, every two weeks VSC services the ship entry of FESCO’s Diomid vessel working on the FESCO China Direct Line (FCDL) with a container capacity of 3,108 TEU”.

OJSC Vostochnaya stevedoring company is the largest container terminal on the Russia’s Far East operating at Vostochniy port. 25% of the company belongs to DP World, 75% – to Global Ports.

Global Ports Investments Plc and its subsidiaries (the “GPI group”) is a leading container terminal operator serving Russian cargo flows. It is part of the N-Trans group, a large privately-held transportation group operating in Russia, CIS and the Baltic countries. The GPI group’s container terminals are located in the Baltic Sea and the Far East basins. The GPI group operates three container terminals in Russia (PLP and Moby Dik in St Petersburg, and Vostochanaya Stevedoring Company in the Vostochny Port) and two container terminals in Finland (located in Helsinki and Kotka). The GPI group also includes an inland container terminal, Yanino, near St Petersburg, which is one of only a few multi-purpose container logistics complexes in Russia providing a comprehensive range of container and logistics services at one location. In addition, the GPI group includes Vopak EOS, a large oil products terminal located in Estonia.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd is one of the largest international transport companies, which operates 100 vessels with the total capacity of 240,000 TEU. The company has 120 agencies and subsidiaries. ZIM carries out ship entries to the ports of 180 countries.

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Source: GlobalPorts, June 10, 2011; Image: vscport