The new operator's main business will be the shipment of paper by rail from Finland to Russia with a forecast annual volume of 50,000 tonnes. The new company may expand into other European Union countries in the future.
First Freight Company was formed in July 2007. It owns 200,000 wagons accounting for 21% of the national fleet and is the largest freight operator in Russia. It carried more than 100 million tonnes of traffic last year.
VR clearly hopes the joint venture will help it revive traffic to and from Russia, an important business for VR which has suffered badly recently. In the first half of this year traffic fell by 41.4 %.
Russian-Finnish railfreight joint venture agreed
FIRST Freight Company, a subsidiary of Russian Railways (RZD), has agreed to set up a joint venture company under Finnish law with VR Group, Finland's national rail operator, to develop railfreight services between the two countries.
FIRST Freight Company, a subsidiary of Russian Railways (RZD), has agreed to set up a joint venture company under Finnish law with VR Group, Finland's national rail operator, to develop railfreight services between the two countries.
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