Former FESCO co-owner and Chairman of the Board, Andrei Severilov, has launched a new venture focusing on the West African freight market and has announced plans to establish a direct route to Russia this year.
According to Interfax news, Russian company JSC A7 Holding, which is associated with Severilov, registered a new freight transport entity, A7 African Cargo Lines LLC (A7 ACL), last week.
The company was launched with a charter capital of US$122 000 on 17 April, its primary activity listed as railway freight transportation.
Interfax reported that the new company was owned by two US business entities, A7 Holding LLC (Limited Liability Company), which is registered in Delaware, and A7 Infrastructure LLC, which registered in Missouri.
According to Interfax the entities are registered to corporate agents whose relationship to A7 ACL could not be confirmed at this stage.
Severilov told Interfax that the company wanted to establish a feeder shipping service between West Africa and Russia.
“At the first stage, with the assistance of the Russian trade mission in Nigeria, we are implementing a project to establish a direct shipping line,” Severilov said.
The company plans to launch a new maritime route between Novorossiysk and Nigeria’s Lagos Port by mid-June.
The line will charter two small 700 TEU container ships for the inaugural route, with plans to expand maritime routes to Senegal’s Dakar port in future.
Severilov has vast experience in the maritime sector, including the post of chairman of the board at the leading Russian container line, FESCO. He also owned a 23.8% share in FESCO’s parent company, PJSC FESCO.
However, he had to leave the company when FESCO was nationalised in 2023, transferring ownership to state nuclear power company, Rosatom.
Severilov announced that he planned to re-enter the transport sector in September 2024.
