07 march 2024 — 16:00
Two additional container ships enter the sea line between Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg. This is reported by TASS, referring to information from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development of the region.
"According to information from Algorithm Group, a new container ship M. T. Efremov, built in 2023, is entering the route "Terminal marine Fishing Port of St. Petersburg - Kaliningrad Commercial Sea Port". The vessel's capacity is 120 units of 40-foot containers and 8 standard 20-foot containers," the message says.
In addition, in March, the Patria motor ship will enter the line, "which has 40 outlets for refrigerated cargo" and can carry self-propelled rolling equipment, Euro trucks. The vessel's capacity is 159 units of 40-foot containers, 20 eurofours, the agency notes.
The Kaliningrad region is separated from the main territory of the Russian Federation by the borders of the EU countries. EU sanctions restrict the overland transit of a number of goods to the region. Goods included in the sanctions lists can only be transported by rail according to quotas established by the European Union, and such goods are prohibited from transportation by trucks. An alternative to traveling by land is the transportation of goods to the region through the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.
By the end of 2023, maritime transport accounted for about 40% of the total cargo turnover of the region. There are 25 vessels operating on the sea lines between Ust-Luga (Leningrad Region) and Baltiysk (Kaliningrad Region) and St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. The governor of the region, Anton Alikhanov, previously stated that the region expects to completely get rid of dependence on Lithuania in matters of automobile cargo delivery as early as 2024 by building up a fleet for rolling equipment with cabins for drivers.