OREANDA-NEWS. On April 14, 2009 A protocol of intent to set up a JV has been signed by the General Director of Russia’s Freight One, Salman Babaev, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of VR Ltd., Pertti Saarela, reported the press-centre of RZD.

The two men have reached an agreement on developing cooperation in export, import and transit rail shipments between Russia and Finland, and have committed to creating a joint venture for cargo shipments.

The planned JV will take the form of a transport-expediting company involved in sales, marketing, freight forwarding and organization of the full range of rail transport services between Russia and Finland. In the future, it may expand its operations to other EU countries.

All the necessary internal corporate procedures for creating the JV will be completed in the second quarter of 2009.
 
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OJSC Freight One was created in July 2007 and is the biggest rail cargo operator in Russia. Its principle founder and shareholder is Russian Railways. FO currently owns over 200,000 units of rolling stock of various kinds, giving it a 21% share in the Russian Federation’s wagon fleet. FO’s freight turnover in 2008 was in excess of 100 million tons.