Bruce Barnard | May 26, 2010 8:42AM EDT
Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines and Russia’s Far Eastern Shipping Company are doubling the frequency of their joint service between Japan and Russia.
The Japan Trans Siberian Line service will move from bi-weekly to weekly sailings from July 12, calling at Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe and Toyama in Japan and the Russian ports of Vostochny and Vladivostok.
The carriers also will launch aBusan transhipment service in mid-June to connect Japan and Russia.
This service will use MOL cargo space between Japan and South Korea in addition to commercial feeder services and the Korea-Russia Direct Line service between South Korea and Russia operated by FESCO.
MOL and FESCO are the only ocean container carriers operating a direct service between Japan and the Russian Far East.
“Russia has been one of the most important emerging countries, and it is one of the markets MOL is focusing on in the new mid-term management plan,” said MOL Executive Officer Junichiro Ikeda.
MOL is FESCO’s longest established foreign partner and the two carriers have operated a joint Japan-Russia service since 1972.
