“Vodohod” is determined to become the biggest player in the river cruise market

ULC Holding, the majority shareholder of VBTH business holding is planning to merge all its cruise companies in Moscow, St-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod and Samara under one brand – “Vodohod” – as part of a big reorganization program. This means “Vodohod”, “Vodohod-Saint-Petersburg” and “Volga-Flot-Tour” will be merged into one “Vodohod” Ltd which will result in doubling the company’s passenger fleet.

The company is going to receive 26 four-deck vessels with passenger capacity around 250. Also the joint company will have access to 24 smaller passenger vessels, among which are 11 speed?boats called “Meteor” and 13 cruisers. Thus, “Vodohod” is going to become the biggest river cruise operator in Russia.

Starting from 2012 navigation season, the area that “Vodohod” services will include several regions. The company will offer routes from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod and Samara. All the offices, currently working in these cities will be preserved. Also, there will be a unified booking system.

The main advantage for the passengers will be the rise in tour product quality. The clients can be sure of the high quality of the service regardless of the region, where the cruise will take place. But the price policy will differ from one region to another – as it does now. Also the price levels will stay the same.

The estimated passenger flow for “Vodohod” in 2012 will exceed 700 thousand people, including 139 thousand on cruisers, 163 thousand on hard-tops and 406 thousand on speed-boats.

“Vodohod” Ltd is a company that arranges tourist river cruises in the North-West and Central regions of Russia and also sea cruises in the Black Sea.

Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCL Holding) is an international transportation group, that unites several Russian navigational, ship-building, logistic and railway companies.