Last week, Port Bronka in St. Petersburg welcomed Lian Hua Song, a multi purpose ship operated by COSCO, which transited the Northern Sea Route (NSR) for the first time in the history of China-Russia relations, as part of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative.
The 27,412 dwt general cargo vessel delivered equipment for the construction of the subway and the renovation of Russian fertilizer producing facilities.
On August 1, Lian Hua Song started its voyage from the Port of Lianyungang (China) traversing the NSR and arriving in St. Petersburg, at the Multipurpose Sea Cargo Complex Bronka, on September 7.
Speaking at the ceremony at the Port of Bronka, Tu Demin, Director General of COSCO Shipping Lines (Russia), said that COSCO pays special attention to the development of the NSR.
“We hope to continue using the Northern Sea Route since it allows us to reduce the time of delivery of goods and reduce transportation costs,” Demin said, adding that COSCO started using the NSR in 2013.
“Since then, the number of vessels transiting this route has been increasing every year… We … support the decision of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, which they adopted in the framework of the international forum “One Belt, One Road” to include the NSR in the unified Eurasian transport network. We are confident that this will significantly increase the trade turnover between our countries,” he stressed.
“For the first time in the history of trade relations between our countries, the ship operated by a Chinese company with a cargo for the domestic industry entered a Russian port… We are proud to have participated in this important project…Our long term goal is to become a key port for securing supplies to Russia,” Alexey Shukletsov, Executive Director of Fenix, operator of MMPK Bronka, said.
Source: http://worldmaritimenews.com