[161017.EN.BIZ] Russia Box Operator to Exploit 'Belt and Road' From Shanghai

PJSC TransContainer, Russia's biggest container operator, plans to expand its China business in response to demand between China and Europe under the Belt and Road Initiative, reports China Daily.

The TransContainer Freight Forwarding (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary established in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, will serve as the Russian company's headquarters, and focus on port transportation.

The Beijing-based Chinese-Russian Rail-Container International Freight Forwarding Co Ltd, a joint venture set up by TransContainer and China Railway International Multimodal Transport (CRIMT) in 2010, is to handle rail transport, said PJCS TransContainer CEO Petr Baskakov.

"The Shanghai company can enjoy favourable policies, including taxation of the free trade zone, [and] has three tasks, which are maintenance of the containers, processing of logistics orders, as well as marketing and promoting the company to global market including China," said Mr Baskakov.

An affiliated company to the TransContainer Shanghai will be established in South China in 2018, and another two will be established in Qingdao of Shandong province and Chengdu of Sichuan province in 2019, he said.

The Port of Shanghai handled 37.13 million TEU in 2016, taking the lead among global container ports for seven consecutive years.

China contributes about 30 per cent of TransContainer's global transportation volume and revenue for the moment, up from 15 per cent of 2010, the largest contributor after Russia.

"Cargo transition volume has surged tremendously between China and Europe, as well as between China and Russia, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative," Mr Baskakov said.

Against a global economic slowdown, bilateral trade volume between China and countries and regions related to the initiative reached CNY6.3 trillion (US$955.5 billion) in 2016, up 0.6 per cent year on year, said Song Lihong, an official from Ministry of Commerce.

The decision to set up the Shanghai subsidiary was made by the company's board of directors in February this year, in an attempt to consolidate TransContainer's positions in intermodal transportation between Russia and China, including via sea routes.

"TransContainer hoped... the Shanghai subsidiary (would) enhance service quality and broaden service field of multi-modal container transportation between China and Russia," said Mr Baskakov.

Source : HKSG.