A Ruscon block train is unloaded at the GCS-owned MANP terminal in Moscow
The Global Container Service Group (GCS) has recently taken delivery of the first batch of what will be a total of 224 rail flat-cars, each 80ft long, which have been built by Transmash in Engels, a city in the Saratov region of Russia. Delivery of the first 32 flat-cars should be completed during April 2012.
The new flat-cars will be deployed in block trains operated by Ruscon, a member of the GCS Group. As a multimodal specialist, Ruscon already operates several regular intermodal services from the port of Novorossiysk to principal destinations in the European part of Russia, including Moscow.
In addition to expanding its owned wagon fleet, GCS plans to increase the number of long-term leased flat-cars operated by Ruscon to over 450 units.
This new capacity will enable Ruscon to expand its block train operations. Its most recent new service, launched last December, serves the port of Novorossiysk and operates to the Tikhonovo intermodal terminal in Elabuga, Tatarstan. Two trains per week each offer delivery of 56 to 64 x 40ft containers to Elabuga with a fixed transit time from Novorossiysk to Tikhonovo of four days.
The main commodity presently carried by Ruscon trains on this route consists of shipments of CKD parts for car-assembly factories in Elabuga. Amongst the international names with manufacturing joint venture facilities in Elabuga’s special economic zone (SEZ Alabuga) are Ford, Isuzu, Voith Turbo, Saint-Gobain, Rockwool, Air Liquide and P-D Fibreglass, part of the Preiss-Daimler Group.
More trucks too
Ruscon is also expanding its trucking fleet and has recently commissioned 20 new MAN container trucks. This brings its owned truck fleet to over 100 units.
The new trucks will be dedicated to serving the company’s key contract accounts in St Petersburg and Novorossiysk.
Global Container Service (GCS) has worked successfully in the Russian container market since 1995. Beginning in the liner agency business, today it counts among the top ten container transport companies in Russia and the CIS.
GCS belongs to one of Russia’s largest transport holding companies, Delo, which also owns several terminal assets in the port of Novorossiysk.
Presently the GCS Group consists of seven companies in various fields of container shipping such as agency, logistics and terminal operations. It is active in all of the major container ports and provinces of Russia, as well as neighbouring CIS countries and overseas.
In the near future, the group plans to further expand its existing companies and add new ones in order to match the growing demand for professional transport services in Russia, the CIS and further afield. A strategic target of GCS is to triple the volume of revenue and double its container throughput over the next five years. That will be achieved through consolidation of its vertically-integrated systems for seamless delivery of containers to any destination of Russia and world-wide. In embracing that challenge GCS firmly relies on its more than 900 staff and close partnerships with leading Russian and international transport companies.
Ruscon
Ruscon is one of the leading transport operators in the Russian container industry today, being the multimodal branch of GCS. Its experienced team, counting more than 700 people in nine offices throughout Russia and CIS, handles almost 150, 000 TEU a year.
Based on a combination of GCS-owned facilities and cooperation with leading international and Russian logistics providers, Ruscon manages cross-border and cross-continent product flows to and from Russia. The company renders comprehensive solutions in arranging ocean freight, deliveries by truck and train, terminal handling, storage and forwarding.
