LEADING short sea operator Kursiu Linija is today celebrating its tenth anniversary with record liftings. Launched on April 8, 1995 to provide logistics service linking the Baltic States and Russia with Europe, Kursiu Linija today employs seven fully cellular vessels, owns its own fleet of high cube containers and turns over Euro 46m, providing services to major shippers.
"We are now moving over 120,000 TEU annually for major shippers including Masterfoods, IKEA and other big names", says Arijus Ramonas, managing director of Kursiu Linija. "They rely on us for door-to-door on time service between the Baltic States, Poland and Russia in the East and the UK and Benelux in the West. Our industrial and retail clients benefit from our ability to provide timely and secure transportation of their goods, and working with them we expect to grow substantially. When we began, no-one would take a Lithuanian company seriously. We have changed that, simply by doing the job better than others, and we shall continue to grow by providing the most reliable transportation service in the market."
Kursiu Linija has recently chartered the Expansa, the first vessel to serve the Baltic/Europe routes with all high cube container capacity. In addition to the vessel, Kursiu Linija has recently taken delivery of 100 new curtain side 45ft high cube boxes and 100 high cube pallet wide refrigerated containers, bringing its fleet of modern containers to over 3,000 units.
"This investment helps us meet the transport needs of a wide range of clients who are moving goods from the low cost production areas in Eastern Europe to their markets in Western Europe", says Ramonas. "We see constantly growing demand as companies realise the advantages of using a dedicated short sea service over the difficulties of long haul road transportation. Our intention is to expand by owing and managing more dedicated tonnage, and by continuing to provide the service our clients have come to rely on."
In July Kursiu Linija will open its own UK offices in Ipswich and will henceforth act as its own agents. "We are now of a size where we can deal direct with our clients," explains Ramonas. "We had a long and successful period of establishing the business using agents, but now the volume of business means we can have our own office and dedicated staff in the UK. We will also shortly be opening our own offices in Rotterdam and Hamburg."
Lithuania-based Kursiu Linija is an intra-European carrier providing cost effective door-to-door transportation services between the Baltic States, Poland, the CIS and the UK and Northern Europe. Its fleet of five vessels serves Klaipeda, Riga, Kaliningrad, Gdansk, Teesport, Ipswich, Ostende, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremerhaven.
