Seago Line’s New Feeder in Maiden Call to St. Petersburg

Vistula Maersk's maiden call to St. Petersburg


Short-sea and feeder operator Seago Line, a part of Maersk Group, has introduced a new vessels, the Vistula Maersk, to its North Europe feeder link between Rotterdam, Netherlands and St. Petersburg, Russia.

The recently-delivered Vistula Maersk, which is the first in a series of vessels purpose-built to serve the North Sea and Baltic Sea, made a maiden call to Petrolesport and First Container Terminal (FCT) in St. Petersburg on April 20.

In the Russian Baltics, where harsh winters and icy waters pose challenges for container shipping, ice-class vessels “bring a very important value proposition to the market.”

Vistula will shortly be joined by its sister unit Volga Maersk and these vessels will together be the only two to operate on the North Europe Feeder Link 1 service.

During the coming months, five other sisters, namely Vayenga Maersk, Venta Maersk, Vuoksi Maersk, Vilnia Maersk and the last one still to be announced, will join Vistula and Volga in enhancing a number of Seago Line services in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Seago Line informed that the new ships are the world’s largest ice-class container vessels, designed specifically for operation in winter conditions and temperatures pof down to -25 degrees C. Apart from their stronger hull, they are characterised by high refrigerated cargo intake.

Vistula Maersk and Volga Maersk will operate on Seago Line’s L16/L01 service, which calls Rotterdam’s APM Terminals 1, Delta Container Terminal and APM Terminals Maasvlakte 2, before calling Port of Ust-Luga and then Petrolesport and First Container Terminal in St. Petersburg.

Image Courtesy: Seago Line