News / Stranded Russia-bound box lines ask shippers to stump up more cash

Transmasters asked customers for $1,750 per container to discharge cargo from Honrise Photo: vesselFinder

Two opportunistic liner operators that started Russia-bound services are now in financial trouble.

Last Thursday (25 January), the China-based, Hong Kong-incorporated Global Field Line (GFL) wrote to customers, seeking an additional payment of $3,000/teu and $5,000/feu to settle sums due to its local agent and port operator. The payments relate to the 2,472 teu MYD Jimei, which GFL operates and is now stranded in the Baltic Sea, having been anchored outside St Petersburg since 8 January.

Owned by four Chinese nationals, GFL started off with a China-Russia service in September 2022, before expanding with a route linking Busan to St Petersburg last May.

Consultancy Linerlytica disclosed that another Russian operator, Transmasters, was also in a similar situation and on 15 December 2023, asked customers for the additional payment of $1,750 per container to discharge cargo from the 1,662 teu Honrise. The ship was stranded in the Baltic Sea in November and was allowed to discharge containers at St Petersburg in January, after the extra sums were paid. As of now, Honrise remains anchored at St Petersburg.

It is possible that more customers may be asked for additional payments, as both GFL and Transmasters have several other chartered ships that are currently stranded at various locations on the China-Baltic route.

The 1,725 teu Shun Long was stranded in Colombo for two weeks in December, after cargoes were loaded at Taicang and Lianyungang in November. Shun Long continued the voyage to St Petersburg in early January, only after the completion of the Honrise discharge.

Two other ships operated by Transmasters, the 1,153 teu Xin Lian Chang and 1,662 teu New Everprosper, have been idle at Colombo since end-2023.

Competition on routes linking East Asia to Russia has intensified due to the influx of new players in 2023. These opportunists sought to fill the vacuum left by mainline operators that suspended calls at Russia, following the implementation of international sanctions due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Data from South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries show that South Korea-Russia freight rates plunged to $700-$1,650/teu, from a high of $4,000/teu at the start of 2023.

To circumvent sanctions against seaborne exports to Russia, some South Korean shippers moved their goods through Russia’s neighbouring countries, such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, using the Trans-Siberian Railway and Trans-China Railway.