On March 22, 2010, the Big Seaport of St.Petersburg hosted the opening ceremony of a new line of transatlantic maritime cargo transportation “Maersk Line”, connecting South America and Russia, which became the first direct trans-oceanic route between Russia and Latino America.
On March 22, 2010, the Big Seaport of St.Petersburg hosted the opening ceremony of a new line of transatlantic maritime cargo transportation “Maersk Line”, connecting South America and Russia, which became the first direct trans-oceanic route between Russia and Latino America.
The ceremony was attended by Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Government of Russia, L. Loecke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark, Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St.Petersburg, Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Levitin, Transport Minister, Elvira Nabiullina, Minister of Economic Development, and Ilya Klebanov, Presidential Plenipotentiary in the North-Western Federal District.
“Maersk Line” carries approximately 25% of container liner shipping in Russia. Duration of the voyage from Ecuador to St.Petersburg (Guayaquil–Panama Canal– Rotterdam–Bremerhaven–St.Petersburg) will be 21 days. The new container line will exploit 6 special ice-class vessels. The first vessel to be discharged at the port was built in South Korea for a Danish shipping company and equipped with Russian navigational equipment and space-based location system GLONASS.
After the ceremony, V.V. Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, held a working meeting with L. Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, during which the heads of government discussed topical issues of bilateral cooperation, including trade, economics, investment, power supply, and transportation areas.
L. Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, was in St.Petersburg for the first time. During the visit, Mr. Rasmussen visited St.Isaac's Cathedral and laid a wreath at the tomb of Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg