Return of railway ferry Baltiysk to Ust-Luga-Baltiysk line postponed to April 2023
Initially, the return of railway ferry Baltiysk was planned for February 2023
Railway ferry Baltiysk the planned repair of which began in mid-January 2023 will return to Ust-Luga-Baltiysk line in April, Oboronlogistics told IAA PortNews.
“The ship is currently undergoing annual survey at Great Port of Saint-Petersburg. The troubleshooting revealed the parts requiring replacement. The works are expected to be completed in the first half of April," the company said.
As Oboronlogistics told IAA PortNews earlier, the return of railway ferry Baltiysk after repair was scheduled for February 2023. However, some technical malfunction was revealed in the course of repair, hence the delay. In early March, Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov, said that Baltiysk would resume operation in late March.
The Baltiysk is a "twin ship" of the Ambal ferry, which is part of Oboronlogistics ' own fleet. Built in 1984, the ferry is under a bareboat charter agreement from December 2020.
The Ambal and Baltiysk ferries are designed for transportation of trains on three cargo decks. Each cargo deck is equipped with five tracks. The trains are loaded onto the ferries through the stern gates on the middle deck and then moved to the upper and lower decks by a two-tier elevator.
Oboronlogistics acts as cargo agent of Ust-Luga-Baltiysk line with the fleet consisting of Ambal, Baltiysk, Marshal Rokossovsky and General Chernyakhovsky ferries (owned by FSUE Rosmorport) and two dry cargo ships, Sparta and Sparta II.
In summer, Lithuania notified Kaliningrad authorities about the ban on certain goods transit passing by railway through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region effective from June 18. Although later EU allowed Russia to transit some sanctioned goods by rail transport to its exclave via the Europe, Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov used to declare readiness to strengthen Baltiysk – Ust-Luga ferry line.
According to Anton Alikhanov, the number of ships delivering cargo to/from the Kaliningrad Region has been increased to 18 including 6 large ferries.
In September 2022, RF Government allocated almost RUB 1.4 billion for the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency (Rosmorrechflot) to subsidize shipping to/from the Kaliningrad Region until the end of the year. In 2023, Rosmorrechflot is provided with RUB 3.8 billion for that purpose.
