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March 29, 2010
The VIPs were out in full when Maersk Line in Russia celebrated the first call in St. Petersburg of its Ecubex service, a new direct service between Ecuador and Russia.
Russian and Danish Prime Ministers, Vladimir Putin and Lars Løkke Rasmussen were present at the event together with Russian Transport Minister, Mr Levitin, Ecuadorian Ambassador to Russia, Mr Zavala, Governor of St. Petersburg, Ms Matvienko, as well as Maersk Group CEO, Nils S. Andersen, and Maersk Line CEO, Eivind Kolding.
 Ecubex is the first direct liner service between Ecuador and Russia. According to Tom Hyldelund, Managing Director of Maersk Line in Russia, the service is a response to the Russian importers’ demand for reliable and fast refrigerated transportation of fruits, especially bananas, from Ecuador to the Russian market. 80% of all bananas to the Russian market are transported via St. Petersburg.
The weekly service will deploy 6 new Ice-Class container vessels that will ensure a year round service, also when there is ice in the waters off St. Petersburg. As it is a direct service, it will only take 21 days from Ecuador to Russia. Bananas and other fruits are transported in refrigerated containers thus ensuring Russian consumers a fresher and higher quality fruit.
Ecubex also opens new markets for Russian exporters, for example machinery to mining regions of Chile, fertilizers to agricultural regions of Ecuador and Colombia, foodstuff to Central America and Caribbean.
This point was made by Russian Prime Minister Putin, who in his address to the 400 guests said that Maersk Line’s new service would provide new opportunities for Russian businesses and would also help lower consumer prices in Russia. Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that Ecubex was an example of further integration of Russia into the global economy.
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Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, (left) and Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, (right) both participated in the inauguaration of the Ecubex service.
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