Russia and Syria look into establishment of joint shipping line
The line is to link Syria and Crimea with preparations to be completed in 2022
Russia and Syria are looking into establishment of a joint shipping line. As Georgy Muradov, Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea - Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea to the President of the Russian Federation, told IAA PortNews at the 6th International Conference “Arctic 2021”, the preparation works can be completed in 2022 with the business plan to be developed by Marine Directorate LLC. The time of launching the line will be determined basing on detailed estimation of the cargo base.
Syria is to deploy two or three vessels for the line while Russia is still considering the issue of providing its vessels or chartering of vessels jointly with the country’s Syrian partners.
According to Georgy Muradov, the line can be used for transportation of fruit, nuts, olive oil and the phosphates from Syrian and metal, wheat, food and other goods from Russia. Annual cargo turnover is estimated at 10 million tonnes. Involvement of dry bulk cargo carriers, containerships and Ro-Ro ferries is under consideration.
The line is to link the ports of Tartous and Latakia of Syria with the Russian ports of Sevastopol, Feodosia and Kerch.
As of today, the ports of Crimea are only loaded at about 20%.
