German and Russian port operators set up feeder carrier

German and Russian port operators set up feeder carrier    German terminal operator Eurogate International GmbH and Russian port and logistics service provider NC Services Ltd. are setting up a feeder container shipping line, Swan Container Line Ltd., in cooperation with two other partners.
   Besides Eurogate and NC Services, the German liner agent Doehle Schiffahrtslinien Agentur GmbH & Co. KG and the Russian shipping line Far Eastern Shipping Co. will also be shareholders in the new venture. Each company will have a 25-percent shareholding.
   From September, Swan Container Line, based in Douglas, Isle of Man, will run a feeder service between Hamburg, Bremerhaven and the First Container Terminal in St. Petersburg, initially using two chartered ships.
   The venture aims to serve different types of customers: overseas shipping lines with transit cargoes via Hamburg or Bremerhaven to Russia; forwarding agents and non-vessel-operating common carriers; and shipping lines already operating their own feeder services between Germany and Russia.
   Eurogate said that investigations are also underway into possible collaborative ventures, such as slot swaps with shipping lines already established in this area.
   Paul G'nther Schiffsmakler GmbH & Co. KG of Hamburg and Bremen has been appointed port agent in Germany for the shipping line. Its agent in St. Petersburg is Neva-Delta S.A.
   The Russian feeder venture follows the agreement in May by Eurogate to participate in a joint-venture contract to build and operate the future deep-water port of Ust Luga, 100 kilometers west of St. Petersburg.
   “Russia is the market with the strongest growth in the Baltic region,” Eurogate said.