FESCO at a glance

FESCO is one of Russia’s largest private transportation and logistics companies with port, railway, and integrated logistics assets. A diversified asset portfolio enables FESCO to provide door-to-door solutions and control all links of the intermodal transportation value chain.

FESCO is the leading provider of container transportation services in Russia's Far East leveraging international sea routes to/from Asia, domestic sea lines and rail network. In addition, the Group is the largest port container operator of Russia's Far East.

FESCO owns the Commercial Port of Vladivostok with an annual throughput capacity of 8 mt of general cargoes and oil products, 100,000 cars and wheeled vehicles, and 723 thousand TEU of containerised cargoes.

FESCO operates 8,000 units of rolling stock and is among Russia’s top 10 private railway operators providing transportation services under the Transgarant and Russkaya Troyka brands. The Group has 47,000 dry and 2,000 refrigerated containers for intermodal transportation by FESCO Integrated Transport ("FIT") and Dalreftrans.

FESCO maintains its own truck fleet and inland terminals in Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk and Tomsk with a total annual throughput capacity of 169,000 TEU.

FESCO runs a fleet of 18 transport vessels servicing primarily the Group's own sea lines.

FESCO history

In 2020, FESCO PLC, the Group's head company, celebrated its 140th anniversary. FESCO history began on 25 April 1880, when a representative office of the Russian Volunteer Fleet (Dobroflot) was founded in Vladivostok. That same day, the Moscow ship heading from Odessa entered the Golden Horn Bay, thus giving a start to regular cargo and passenger voyages between the European part of Russia and its Far East.

Dobroflot’s history is closely linked to that of the country. In 1883, its steamships began transporting settlers to the Far East under a state agreement. In 1891, Dobroflot became the main cargo carrier serving the Trans-Siberian Railway under construction. 1911 became a milestone for the Company as the Kolyma steamship travelling from Vladivostok reached the Kolyma estuary, marking the launch of the sea route to the Eastern Arctic. During World War I, Dobroflot shipped millions of tonnes of cargo to the Far East.

In 1924, a single shipping company Sovtorgflot was created, with Dobroflot’s office in Vladivostok becoming its division. In 1934, Vladivostok Arctic Shipping Company was established, while 1935 saw the foundation of Far Eastern Shipping Company that became a globally renowned Soviet brand.

During the Great Patriotic War, FESCO fleet accounted for almost half of the vital cargo deliveries sent to the USSR as part of the military aid.

In 1967 the Company got its international name – Far Eastern Shipping Company – and the FESCO logo.

In early 1990s FESCO underwent economic reforms just like the rest of the country. On 15 February 1991, it was registered as a state enterprise Far Eastern Shipping Company (SE FESCO). On 23 September 1992, the FESCO Employee’s Conference sanctioned the transformation into a joint stock company.

Today FESCO:

services the key transport corridors and export and import routes;
has a global network of branches and representative offices, as well as offices in Russia’s key ports in St Petersburg, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok and Nakhodka;
is the absolute leader among Russian sea ports in terms of container handling in 2020;
serves 10,000 customers with an average annual NPS of 62%;
accounts for 34% of railway shipments from the Primorye Territory to the west along the Trans-Siberian Railway;
offers 19 regular shipping services, including international and domestic services;
provides 50 regular railway services, including the transportation of temperature sensitive cargoes;
has a unique expertise in handling heavyweight and oversize cargo, with over 100 such shipments completed in 2020;
employs nearly 5,000 people worldwide.