Fesco and BLG Logistics established a Russo-German auto logistics joint venture at the port of St. Petersburg to handle imports into Europe’s fastest-growing car market.
The companies will initially invest $13.6 million in the new unit, which is expected to handle 60,000 vehicles in 2011 in cooperation with port operator JSC Sea Port of St. Petersburg. The partners expect Russian car sales will grow at an average 15 percent annually to soon become Europe’s biggest market.
The new company will be one of the leading players in the Russian market within five years “combining sea transportation and port handling of vehicles in the European part of Russia and in the Far East with rail and truck transportation of both imported and locally assembled cars,” said Fesco CEO Sergey Generalov.
Bremen-based BLG Logistics, which has been operating in St. Petersburg since 2008, is one of Europe’s biggest auto logistics firms handling 5.4 million vehicles in 2010.
Fesco owns Russia’s largest ocean container carrier and is also active in project cargo shipping, rail and truck transport and port terminals.
-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
