The dedicated trains, carrying 54 x 40’ containers of CKD parts, will leave the port on the Russian Baltic four times a week, taking two and a half days to reach Nizhniy Novgorod.
“The volumes are big enough and business is sufficiently regular to justify a dedicated operation,” explains Andrey Naraevskiy, Director Liner and Business Development. Ruscon expects to carry 700-800 40’ containers a month on the service.
The containers, which originate from production plants in Mexico, arrive at Ust-Luga on a new weekly feeder service launched by Hapag-Lloyd in May.
Ruscon is using its own 80’ flat cars, part of the fleet of 224 new rail cars it invested in last year in order to help it win more intermodal traffic. The company already runs block trains from Ust-Luga to Nizhniy Novgorod carrying parts for General Motors (Korea) Ltd to a plant operated by Russian motor manufacturer GAZ.
“We have the equipment, the experience and the expertise to ensure that the parts arrive as scheduled at the Volkswagen assembly plant,” says Naraevskiy.
“We understand how important it is that the parts arrive on time to keep the assembly lines running smoothly.”
Ruscon, part of the Global Container Service (GCS) Group, handles over 200,000 TEU a year and also offers freight forwarding, storage, terminal handling and bonded trucking.
Photo above: 12 July 2013: M/s Anina at Ust-Luga port discharging containers for Ruscon's dedicated train service of VW CKD parts