Trans-Atlantic freight shipment line to be opened in St Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG, March 22 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin, his Danish counterpart Lars Rasmussen and Ecuadorian
Minister of Industries Xavier Abad Vicuna will take part in the opening
ceremony of the trans-Atlantic ocean freight route Guayaquil
(Ecuador)-Panama Canal-Rotterdam-Bremerhaven-St. Petersburg, the Russian
government's press service told Itar-Tass.

The Ecubex project is the first direct trans-Atlantic freight shipment
route between Russia and Latin America.
Direct ocean service will be carried out once a week by six new
ice-strengthened ships of 2,500 TEU equipped with refrigerator facilities.
The direct Ecuador-St. Petersburg route is expected to open new markets
for Russian exporters (equipment to Chile's coal mining provinces,
fertilizers to Ecuador's and Colombia's farms, foodstuffs to Central
American and Caribbean countries) and will expand imports of fruit from
Latin America.
The line's operator is Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's biggest
container shipper possessing more than 500 vessels and two million 20-feet
containers. The company is active on the Russian market, having its
offices in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novorossiisk, Vladivostok, and
Kaliningrad. Maersk Line accounts for 20 percent of the Russian container
shipment market. It is responsible for 25 percent of Russia's container
exports to Asia Pacific and Middle East countries and for 20 percent of
Russia's container imports from these regions.
Maersk Line invested some 45 million U.S. dollars in the new project.
After the opening ceremony, the Russian prime minister is expected to
hold talks with his Danish counterpart to discuss issues of bilateral
trade and economic cooperation, use of technological and organizational
experience of Danish companies for the purposes of modernizing Russia's
economy, prospects for expanding cooperation between Russia and Denmark to
the level corresponding to the two countries' potential.
Decline in Russian-Danish trade turnover in the wake of the global
economic recession was not so dramatic as in trade with many other
countries. According to Russia's Federal Customs Service, bilateral trade
turnover in 2009 dropped by 13.9 percent against 2008 to reach 3.2
billion U.S. dollars, including Russian exports of 1.8 billion U.S.
dollars and imports of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, bilateral
trade turnover in January 2010 went up by 32.1 percent as compared with
the same period of 2008.
Positive dynamics were reported in the area of bilateral investment
cooperation. Danish investments in Russia go mostly to the real sector.
Some 20 percent of more than 200 Danish companies active on the Russian
market (more than one billion U.S. dollars of investments) have
established production lines in Russia. Moreover, since the 1990s Denmark'
s government has allocated more than 250 million U.S. dollars to finance
projects of administrative and technical assistance to Russia (in all,
more than 1310 sectoral projects).
Currently, such internationally recognized Danish companies as Danfoss
(heat controllers), Velux (building materials), Rockwool (nonconducting
materials), Broen (ball valves), Grundfos (pimps), Karlsberg (beer), etc.
are engaged in investment activities in Russia.
In 2002, Russia's Novolipetsk Metallurgical Works purchased Denmark's
steel rolling works Dansteel. In April 2006, Agromasholding of Russia
bought a controlling stock in Sivlatec, Denmark's only manufacturer of
lumbering equipment.
Partnership relations have been established between Russia's gas
utility Gazprom and Denmark's state power concern Dong Energy. Under
current contracts, Russia's gas supplies to Denmark will be increased
through the Northern Stream gas pipeline. On October 20, 2009, the Danish
government was the first among the Baltic countries to give a go ahead to
laying this pipeline via its economic zone in the Baltic.

.Avalanche warning issues in Kamchatka.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, March 22 (Itar-Tass) -- An avalanche warning
has been issued in Kamchatka's mountainous areas, a local emergencies
service told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to the service, in the period from March 22 through 24
avalanche zones will include hills and volcanoes in Kamchatka's
Yelizovsky, Milkovsky and Ust-Kamchatsky districts. Snow slides are
possible on the Vilyuchinsky, Kozelsky, Koryaksky and Avachinski volcanoes.


.Snow cyclone cuts electricity supplies to 9 settlements on Sakhalin.

VLADIVOSTOK, March 22 (Itar-Tass) -- A snow cyclone left nine
settlements on Russia's Far Eastern Sakhalin island without electricity,
the Sakhalinenegro company's press service told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to the press service, electricity supplies have been resumed
to two villages in Sakhalin's south. Repairs works in the other seven
settlements are in progress and electricity supplies are expected to be
resumed in the afternoon on Monday.
-0-ras


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