MAJOR container lines and third-party feeder operators are reducing or phasing out services to Russian ports, reports London's Lloyd's List.

While major container line companies have reduced calls at Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, domestic operator Fesco appears to have added calls, said the report.

At the Port of St Petersburg, calls have dropped 60 per cent, with only 14 vessels having either called and sailed, are in port, or are expected to arrive.

Until recently, St Petersburg averaged 32 boxship calls per week, with regular feeder services via northeast European ports provided by leading container line operators CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk, MSC and Cosco/OOCL.

In addition, third-party feeder operators Samskip, Unifeeder and X-Press Feeders also provide regular services to St Petersburg.

No vessels operated by Containerships or Samskip have serviced St Petersburg, while Hapag-Lloyd and X-Press Feeders cancelled calls.

Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said none of his ships would be calling at Russia. The company routinely used two owned 2,475-TEU ships calling at St Petersburg each week.

CMA CGM's 2,500-TEU CMA CGM Neva, which is also carrier-owned, arrived at St Petersburg on March 8 and is due to sail for Hamburg. CMA CGM Neva is likely to be the last CMA CGM ship to serve Russia for the foreseeable future.

Other vessel arrivals this week include the Mediterranean Shipping Co's (MSC) 3,000-TEU MSC Shannon and MSC Atlantic while the similar sized MSC Jordan is due to arrive at St Petersburg.

Maersk is understood to have two vessels destined for St Petersburg. According to Lloyd's List Intelligence, the 3,600-TEU Vayenga Maersk and the Vilnia Maersk both indicate a destination of St Petersburg via their automatic identification system transmissions. However, their arrival dates are not certain.

Meanwhile, Unifeeder had three St Petersburg ship calls this week, with a fourth, the 1,000-TEU Ida Rambow, chartered from German shipowner Rambow Bereederungs due to call at St Petersburg within days.

Finally, the Cosco-operated 2,000-TEU Delphis Bothnia arrived at St Petersburg and now bound for Zeebrugge.

Source Shipping Gazette