A new regular feeder service of the Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) shipping company now links Hamburg with St. Petersburg. Every 14 days the feeder ship Robert puts in at the container terminals of the Port of Hamburg as required. The service is offered by HHM in partnership with Team Lines, a subsidiary of the Belgian shipping company Delphis.
The first departure of the Robert from Hamburg has already taken place, on 25 March 2009. Built at the Sietas dockyard in Neuenfelde, the ship is 441 ft long and 74 ft wide, and has a container slot capacity of 868 TEUs, as well as 234 connections for refrigerated containers (reefers). With a load capacity of 11,260 tons, the ship has a maximum draught of 28.5 ft and a service speed of 18 knots.
In 2008 the Russian Federation was Hamburg’s third most important trading partner for container shipments, reaching a level of 720,000 TEUs. The frequency of departures makes it possible for export cargoes to be carried to Russia via Hamburg several times daily. This shows the Elbe port strengthening its market share as a leading transit hub for goods going to Russia. With more than 660,000 TEUs, Hamburg’s sister city and partner port St. Petersburg is the most important seaport for container traffic between Russia and Hamburg.