MOSCOW: May 09, 2019. Samskip Russia has launched a single point of contact for time-sensitive shipments door-to-door with the introduction of airfreight services connecting Moscow and St Petersburg to destinations worldwide.

The airfreight service launch announcement comes after the successful delivery of a first shipment of 10 kegs of craft beer from Moscow’s Zagovor Brewery to a beer festival in Leeds, timed to ensure the cargo arrived in peak condition.

Samskip Russia handled pick-up from the shipper’s premises and delivery to Sheremetyevo InternationalAirport, where the load cleared Customs and joined a scheduled Aeroflot flight to London Heathrow. Samskip Forwarding UK cleared the goods at Heathrow before delivering them to the consignee in Leeds.

“We are delighted to offer the transit speeds and service responsiveness to meet the needs of one of Russia’s rising craft beer stars, which has used social and otherdigital media so effectively in building its brand internationally,” says Andrey Gryazev, managing director, Samskip Russia.

Samskip offers a single point of contact in Moscow to deal with multiple air carriers. As well as managing pre/on-carriage, tracking and tracing and insurance, Samskip coordinates Customs clearance through licensed partners.

The initial success augurs well for other perishables says Gryazev. Trial mango shipments from West Africa to Moscow are already planned. Expectations are also high that inbound machinery spare parts will become a volume airfreight trade.

Meanwhile, as a pan-European multimodal service provider, Samskip is the also the largest transporter of specialized craft beer in the market. “This, and the success of the first two shipments make it likely that airfreighting Russian beer could become a strong niche for Samskip Russia,” says Gryazev. “Plans are already in place for a further Zagovor export shipment to a customer based in Melbourne, for example.”