After a number of test calls Finnlines are launching a ro-ro service to Ust-Luga. The new biweekly service from Wallhamn in Sweden to the Russian port of Ust-Luga will deploy one ro-ro vessel. It will be one of Finnlines newbuildings, Finnbreeze type, most probably “Finnsun”, told SeaNews Finnlines COO Hakan Modig.
These ro-ro ships are 187 metres long, 26.5 metres wide, have a service speed of 21 knots and the ice class 1A. The series consists of six ships with a single capacity of 3,245 lane metres and hoistable decks for 600 cars, the final duo to be delivered end of 2012.
Port of Wallhamn, which, same as Finnlines, is a Grimaldi Group company can be used for transshipment of cars from ocean-going vessels to be delivered further to the Russian market. The new service is targeted towards the automotive industry as well as at the truck, trailer and container business. The service departs from Wallhamn every other Tuesday and arrives at Ust-Luga on Thursday.
As Finnlines President/CEO Uwe Bakosch remarked, “The network of European ports into Russia will allow to lift all trade synergies associated to that strategy having the vital benefit of synergies with the Grimaldi Group, which allows us to offer worldwide connections to our Russian customers, linking our growing network of short-sea services in the Baltic and beyond to the deep-sea services in West-Africa, North- and South America through Antwerp and Wallhamn.”
Not so long ago another Grimaldi Group company, Atlantic Container Line has launched a service from US and Canadian ports to Russia and Finland, with Finnlines’ vessels operating the short sea leg between Antwerp and the Baltic.