COSCO Shipping – the Chinese shipping line and third largest company worldwide – has recently included Le Havre in its shortsea RFS4 schedule serving Russia and Finland every week.
The container vessel Navi Baltic made her first call at the port on 16 December 2020 at the Terminal de France, making Haropa-Le Havre Port central to its RFS4 shortsea service.
This service was put in place by COSCO Shipping in conjunction with its shortsea-dedicated subsidiary Diamond Line, and it now connects the Normandy port directly with Russia (port of Saint-Petersburg/Bronka) and Finland (Kotka port).
Starting on this date, a rotation will therefore involve two Ice Class 1 AS vessels, a class representing the highest ice certification.
These ships carry all types of container (20-feet, 40-feet, Hi-Cube + SOC) and have over 300 reefer points on board.
This service is made possible by particularly competitive export and import transit times: for exports, Le Havre can in fact reach Saint-Petersburg in four days and Kotka in five; for imports, Kotka to Le Havre takes four days.
