The Russian government and logistics firm FESCO have launched a ‘Meat Shuttle’. This is a railway service for the delivery of perishable products in refrigerated containers from Russia to China and countries of Southeast Asia. The new route will boost the export potential of the Russian pig industry in the Asian direction.
The service will utilise FESCO-operated intermodal and shipping routes via the ports of Vladivostok and St. Petersburg as well as via land border crossing points. The Meat Shuttle will give Russian meat companies an opportunity to send their products to China and the countries of Southeast Asia as part of a single end-to-end transportation without changing the refrigerated container along the entire route, according to the Russian export centre, a government agency authorised to facilitate export.
The new transport route will also save delivery time due to the absence of overload at intermediate points. Meat Shuttle clients will be eligible for reimbursement of up to 25% of transportation costs under the Russian state support programme for the transportation of agricultural products, the Export Center unveiled.
“I believe that given the opening of the Chinese pork market, the Meat Shuttle will be in great demand among Russian exporters of meat products and will allow them to occupy a serious niche in the target market” said Veronika Nikishina, general director of the Export Center.
