Russia’s largest rail freight container operator, TransContainer, has launched a new rail logistics route to move Fiat automotive parts from Italy to Sollers’ plant in Yelabuga, Russia. The first shipment was made last Saturday (May 29) according to Russian press sources.
Running from Fiat’s storage facilties in Villanova D'Asti and Mozzagrogna to the Russian carmaker’s plant in Yelabuga, Tartastan, the route runs via Transcontainer’s Dobre terminal in Slovakia. Monthly traffic volume via the route is projected at 500 TEUs.
The new route is reported to save delivery time by nine days over the established route established in 2007 whereby parts were taken by sea via the port of Novorossiysk for shipment on by rail to the Sollers’ plant.
Russian carmaker Sollers has signed a €2.4 billion ($3.3 billion) joint venture with Fiat to make up to 500,000 vehicles a year in the country by 2016. But a lack of investment in infrastructure in the transport and logistics sector in Russia has led to comparative weakness by international standards. However, recent efforts to tackle the problem by Sollers, as well as logistics companies including Gefco and Major Auto Trans are going someway to tackle the problem (read more here).
