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New bunker sales from Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) look to on the cards at the Port of Gothenburg, following the announcement that the Hong Kong-based shipping line is set to become a new customer for the Swedish port.

"In March, a new line will commence linking Gothenburg with Russia and the continent," the Port of Gothenburg said in a statement.

A rotation route will commence covering Hamburg/Gothenburg/Klaipeda (Lithuania), St Petersburg, Rauma (Finland) and Gävle/Hamburg.

The freight comprises imported goods from Asia, Australia and North America and will be reloaded from the line's ocean-going vessels in Hamburg onto vessels serving the new route. It will also be possible for Swedish companies to use the route to export goods to Lithuania, Finland and Russia.

"It is incredibly exciting that OOCL has chosen to focus on the Port of Gothenburg and that we have yet another direct link to the important Russian market. OOCL is also one of the shipping lines that we hope will in the future choose to operate directly to Gothenburg with its ocean-going vessels, allowing transit operations for the Baltic region to be handled here instead of on the continent," says Claes Sundmark, Sales Director at the Port of Gothenburg.

To facilitate the movement of freight from different parts of Sweden, including the Stockholm area, to the Port of Gothenburg, OOCL will make use of the rail shuttles that link the port to different towns in Sweden.

The vessels on the new route are the OOCL Neva and the OOCL Narva, each with a capacity of 868 TEU. They will call at Gothenburg each Thursday.