World's largest ferry Vilnius Seaways takes Illichivsk-Poti route

KYIV, July 9 /UKRINFORM/. Ukrferry and the Danish ferry operator DFDS Seaways signed a cooperation agreement, according to which the world's largest car-train-ferry Vilnius Seaways launches regular journeys in the Black Sea - Illichivsk - Poti/Batumi (Georgia), spokesman for the Association of Shipowners of Ukraine Oleksandr Fedorov told Ukrinform.

"Danish partners transferred the boat into the operational management of the Ukrainian shipping company Ukrferry, which is the official national carrier of Ukraine in the Black Sea," he said.

According to Fedorov, a joint project of the leading ferry operators of the two countries is aimed at bringing together the lines of the Baltic and Black seas into a single freight logistics chain.

Ukrferry is already carrying out cargo-and-passenger transportation en route Illichivsk - Batumi on the ferry boat Greifswald. The company needs another ferry to boost the frequency of traffic in the Georgian direction. In addition, Ukrferry considers the possibility of Vilnius Seaways traffic en route Poti - Constanta.

The ferry line Illichivsk - Poti/Batumi is a seaside section of the TRACECA corridor.

The Danish ferry had already made two journeys en route Illichivsk - Poti/Batumi. The cargo occupancy was 100 percent, 68 passengers were transported, 31 of them were truck drivers, others - tourists from Europe.

Vilnius Seaways is a modern cargo-and-passenger ship built in Germany. The length of its body is 190 meters, width - 28 meters. Two cargo decks can simultaneously take on board 50 universal rail cars and 50 heavy vehicles. The vessel has 110 seats in cabins and 24 sedentary ones.

АМ