Russia's back door

摘要

Much has been written in recent years about the tremendous growth of traffic to St Petersburg. Since the partial opening up of Russia to free enterprise in the 1990s, the port has become the country's main commercial gateway, with its two largest container terminals increasing their traffic by a further 43% in the first half of this year alone, up to 411,000TEU. Even so, no deepsea container services yet call there, and are unlikely to do so for some time, given the extra 2.5 days steaming time required each way beyond Hamburg, plus the port's shallow draught restrictions and icy conditions during winter. The enforced use of feeder services means that all nearby ports retain an interest in the Russian market, and no more so than the neighbouring Finnish hubs of Kotka and Hamina, which have largely replaced Helsinki. They have good reason to see a bright future ahead.