The German company promised to launch ferries directly to Russia. Journalists called it fake.
A notice on the website of the logistics company HSL Hanse Line Shipping GmbH announced the launch of sea transportation from Germany to the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation starting July 3, 2027. The announcement emphasizes that the route operates as an "integrated maritime corridor for the transport of goods in exceptional cases, as well as for the full transport of civilian goods in the European Union". Passenger transport is allegedly allowed in "exceptional humanitarian cases".
At the same time, the background image of the website shows a ferry of the Swedish company Rederi AB Gotland. They told German television channel NDR that the use of its vessels on routes to Russia was never discussed. The management of Mokran Port on Rogan Island, from where the proposed flights to Russia are supposed to depart, also expressed surprise. "So far no negotiations have taken place between Hanse Line Shipping GmbH and the port of Mukran, the port said in a press release.
NDR discovered that the head of HSL Hanse Line Shipping GmbH, Jürgen W. The 73-year-old Dash has been on the board of directors of the company "For German-Russian Friendship" since 2024. He declined an interview and said that the launch of the shuttle "is in the approval stage." The address where his company was registered turned out to be the home of the Dasch family on the outskirts of Berlin, where the company's name is only found on a mailbox.
DW contacted HSL Hanse Line Shipping GmbH with its own request.