The Norwegians and Finns are working together towards launching a container train service which would carry fish to China.

The planned route would connect the Norwegian Port of Narvik, where containers would be loaded with salmon bred in fish farms off the coasts of Northern Norway, to the Swedish-Finnish border crossing in Haparanda-Tornio, via the junction in Boden, from where the now broad gauge set would head for Kouvola, which has already a 12-14-day transit time link to the Chinese Xi'an, the final destination point of the 'salmon train'.

It's planned to send the first shipment by September/October.

As of today, a yearly volume of around 30kt of salmon is being air-shipped from Helsinki to China.

The project is a result of a decision recently taken by the Russian authorities to lift the ban on transit traffic of certain products, including agricultural goods and foodstuff. The country has opened a special department to oversee transit traffic, meaning that interested parties will have to receive an approval in order to dispatch their shipments.

Source: RailFreight.com

Photo: Railgate Finland