In May 2023, the Ambal ferry delivered the first batch of salt intended for use in medicine and the food industry from the Kaliningrad region to Ust-Luga. The total weight of the cargo was 520 tons (16 wagons).
The final point of transportation is the Moscow region. It is planned that the next train with salt will be sent by ferry on the route Baltiysk – Ust-Luga in two weeks, and in the future shipments will be organized with a frequency of up to two trains per month.
Salt is produced at a plant in the Zelenograd district of the Kaliningrad region in an environmentally friendly way without the use of chemical reagents. The company has been operating since 2021. Production capacities allow to produce up to 400 thousand tons of raw materials per year.
The rock salt deposit in the Kaliningrad region is one of the outlets of the Western European Salt basin, whose age is estimated at 250 million years. The manufacturer sets itself the task of providing high-quality products not only to the Kaliningrad region, but also to other regions of Russia.
Owned by Oboronlogistics, the Ambal railway ferry is designed to transport railway rolling stock (up to 130 wagons) and trailers. The weight of each cargo batch of the ferry is up to 8,000 tons. The ferry has a special design for placing vehicles on three cargo decks. Each cargo deck is equipped with five railway tracks. Cargo is loaded onto the ferry to the middle deck via a lifting bridge. The lifting and lowering of railway cars and other rolling loads from the middle deck to the upper and lower is carried out by a two-tier elevator.
Ferries operating on the Ust-Luga – Baltiysk line ensure the vital activity of the Kaliningrad Region, and also deliver products of enterprises of the Kaliningrad region on a regular basis.
Currently, companies in the Kaliningrad region are involved in the implementation of the national task of import substitution in terms of the production of their own products in demand on the Russian market. The Ust-Luga – Baltiysk ferry line is one of the main ways of delivering goods from Kaliningrad manufacturers, bypassing the territories of limitrophs.