Danish shipping group Maersk Line is altering its Ecuador Banana Express (Ecubex) service by incorporating a call at the Port of St Petersburg in Russia, according to press reports in the European country.
The new service, which will begin in January next year, will see vessels unload at the Petrolesport container terminal, according to Russian newspaper Kommersant-SPB.
Prior to the new service, Maersk Line-shipped bananas destined for Russian markets had been unloaded at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, before being transported to St Petersburg in feeder vessels.
The new port rotation on the Ecubex service will be Guayaquil (Ecuador), Balboa (Panama), Rotterdam, Bremerhaven (Germany), St Petersburg, Manzanillo (Mexico), Balboa, Guayaquil.
Maersk Nijmegen, the first vessel on the route to call at St Peterburg, will leave Guayaquil on 4 January 2010 and arrive in Russia on 24 January.
