Russia & India introduce direct Novorossiysk – Mumbai shipping route

MOSCOW : Russia’s Far Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO) has begun a new direct shipping route between Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea Coast and Mumbai on the West coast of India.

The company stated that “FESCO Indian Line operates on the route Novorossiysk-Ambarli (Turkey)-Nhava Sheva (India)-Mundra (India) and back. The main cargo traffic on this service is food products, cellulose, polymer materials and others. Hazardous cargo is also accepted for shipping.” The Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports are parts of the overall Mumbai port complex. The city is India’s commercial hub possessing an affluent consumer population in its own right as well as rail and road transport networks to the rest of the country.

Novorossiysk is on the Russian Black Sea coast and is the Black Seas largest regional port.  It is listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange and services Russian sea trade with regions of Asia, Middle East, Africa, Mediterranean, and South America. It is the busiest oil port in the Black Sea and the terminus of the pipeline from the Tengiz Field, developed by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. Novorossiysk is an industrial city, dependent on steel, food processing, and the production of metal goods and other manufactures. Extensive limestone quarries supply important cement factories in and around the city.

The new service has two departures per week while the shipping time between Novorossiysk and Mumbai averages 25 days.

This is FESCO’s third deep sea container service and second with India. Group customers can access shipments to and from Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva Port via Russia’s Vladivostok port on Russia’s eastern, Pacific seaboard.

FESCO is a major Russian port operator with rail and logistics businesses. The group operates more than 130,000 TEU of containers and a fleet of over 10,000 well cars. Its fleet of 23 vessels operate primarily on the group’s own marine lines.

The new route is indicative of growing Russian-Indian trade, which is developing beyond energy and into other markets such as agriculture and consumer goods as Russia looks to other markets in the wake of the collapse of its European trade.  Bilateral trade was up 120% in 2022.

Dezan Shira & Associates have offices in India and can assist Russian businesses with their India trade. Services we provide include market and business intelligence, corporate establishment, tax advisory and compliance.