The AsstrA corporate group sums up its sea transport results for 2018

In 2018, the AsstrA corporate group achieved a turnover of 21 million euros from sea shipping, a 49% year-on-year increase. Sea transport solutions now account for 8% of AsstrA’s total offerings, 2% higher than in 2017.

In 2018, AsstrA experts executed more than 10,000 TEUs of sea container transport orders on more than 280 routes. The total weight of all transported break-bulk cargo exceeded 400,000 tons, 22% more than in 2018. During the year AsstrA welcomed 185 new sea transport customers on board.

"Sea transportation is the best option for companies planning to deliver goods to regions where land connections are expensive and/or difficult to access due to poor infrastructure. AsstrA customers receive a wide range of logistics solutions tailored to specific requirements. We handle the sea transportation of anything from heavy and oversize cargo to small consignments in prefabricated containers from European, American, and Asian ports. Customers can rely on related services including cargo consolidation in ports, export declaration processing, surveys at the port of departure/destination, and marking," says Valentin Vigdorovich, AsstrA Novorossiysk branch manager.

Accounting for 16.5% of maritime shipping volume, chemical industry products such as hazardous chemicals, pharmaceutical products, fertilizers, disinfectants, technical and edible oils are AsstrA’s most popular sea transport cargo. Following are metallurgical industry products like sheet metal, rolled steel, round steel, pipes, fittings, at metal cord with 12.6%, household and domestic repair items like furniture, sanitary wares, and construction tools with 4.4%, and pulp and paper industry products like lumber and cellulose with 3.4 %.

"In 2019, the AsstrA team will continue to develop cargo imports from China to Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and Europe. Back in 2018, the company achieved significant results in these areas, and this year the goal is to strengthen our market positions,” says Andrey Zaitsev, Deputy Director of the AsstrA Maritime Operational Department. “The group of companies plans to open another office in Germany to offer high-quality transport services via the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven. AsstrA customers have tremendous advantages in China and Northern Europe thanks to our local offices and steady cargo flows there. Towards the end of 2018, we also began focusing on building sea exports from Russia. This will allow new and existing customers to balance their freight flows and gain additional benefits through AsstrA's established partnerships with shipping lines."