OREANDA-NEWS. On June 14, 2007 TransKontainer opened a representative office in Germany. As Pyotr Baskakov, the managing director of TransKontainer, explained, the new office will provide the full range of services on shipping freight by container using its own rolling stock, as well as marketing support to attract freight to international rail routes transiting Russia and Germany, reported the press-centre of  Russian Railways.

In addition, Baskakov said the representative office would also facilitate new container routes.

“The new representative office is part of the increasing cooperation between Russian Railways and Deutsche Bahn,” said Baskakov, who added that a contract will be signed between the two companies in the near future to establish a joint logistics company to develop import/export and transit routes between Germany and Russia.

“Immediately after signing this contract, Russian Railways and Deutsche Bahn also plan to make a decision on setting up a logistics company with the Chinese Ministry of Railways, which will open up new possibilities for closer cooperation between the railway networks of all three countries and also increase Russia’s transit potential,” said Baskakov.

Total freight shipments by rail between Germany and Russia are growing constantly and in 2006 amounted to 71,900 “Twenty-Foot Equivalent (TEU) Units, of which over 3,400 TEUs were transit.