FESCO launches rail service from Vietnam to Russia via China, Mongolia
MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - FESCO Transportation Group, which is under the Rosatom state corporation's control, has launched the direct rail service FESCO Vietnam Shuttle from Vietnam to Moscow via China and Mongolia in partnership with logistics operator Ratraco (a subsidiary of Vietnam Railways), the company said.
The average transit time along the FESCO Vietnam Shuttle route is 35 days. Departures from Vietnam are carried out weekly. All types of cargo are accepted for transport, except hazardous materials.
The first two batches of containers under the new service arrived at Silikatnaya station in the Moscow region from Hanoi on July 8 and 25. One of Russia's largest clothing retail chains was the customer for the shipment.
The first stage of the shipment includes dispatching containers by rail from the Vietnamese cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Haiphong, and Danang to Chengdu, China. In the second stage, containers are loaded onto the group's regular trains running from Chengdu through the land border crossings Erlian (China) - Zamyn-Uud (Mongolia) - Naushki (Russia) and onward to stations in the Moscow region.
"The first FESCO rail service from Vietnam to Russia offers Russian importers another convenient way to deliver cargo from Southeast Asia, which may well be comparable in delivery time to the traditional intermodal route through Far Eastern ports. Together with our partners at Ratraco, we plan to ramp up FESCO Vietnam Shuttle to regular departures up to twice a week, and in the future, given favorable market conditions, to begin dispatching full container trains from key cities in Vietnam," Vice President for the Liner and Logistics Division German Maslov said.
FESCO, the parent company of the FESCO transport group, owns assets in the port, railway and integrated logistics business. It owns PJSC Commercial Port of Vladivostok , the FESCO Integrated Transport intermodal operator, the Dalreftrans refrigerated container operator, as well as the Transgarant and FESCO Trans companies.
The group manages terminal complexes in Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk, Tomsk, and Vladivostok. The company manages a container fleet of over 200,000 TEU and almost 15,000 flat cars. The group's fleet includes more than 30 vessels, which operate primarily on the company's own shipping lines. The controlling stake of 92.5% in FESCO was transferred to Rosatom as per Russian presidential decree in November 2023.
