Chemistry stuck in the Far East

The logistics of hazardous chemical cargoes imported to Russia from Asia through the ports of the Far East has become much more complicated due to changes in the requirements of Russian Railways to accept them for transportation. Industry participants believe that the new rules, according to which, for example, they need to transport empty containers along with full ones, increase costs and clearance time, suggesting at least unifying the rules for transportation between Russia and China. The ports confirm the slowdown in the processing of dangerous chemical cargoes, while Russian Railways does not see massive failures.

As it became known to Kommersant, a critical situation has developed in the Far Eastern ports with the delivery of raw chemical products from China and other countries of Southeast Asia due to the new rules of Russian Railways for the transport of dangerous goods. This includes, for example, products such as adhesives, solvents and paints. The changes affected the requirements for the layout and fastening of such goods inside containers.

Kommersant’s source notes that the legislative rules came into force on January 1, but in fact the branches of the OJSC began to demand their implementation by July. In particular, when transporting liquid dangerous goods in wagons or containers, the consignor is obliged to place in them at least 1% of empty containers. That is, the source of Kommersant in one of the consignees explains, theoretically, if suddenly one of the drums with dangerous goods is damaged, it should be possible to replace it with a spare one.

But in practice, it is impossible to perform such an operation on the way or in the port, the interlocutor of Kommersant notes, while empty containers have to be declared separately and a certificate of conformity made for it, which entails additional costs and slows down the clearance process. The volume of stuck goods on the market is estimated at thousands of tons.

According to the Union of Plastic Processors, container ships are in the roadstead in the port of Vladivostok and Nakhodka, sometimes for more than two weeks. They noted that the refusals of stations to accept dangerous goods in transportation led to the overpacking of ports. “The inability to unload the delivered containers leads to the problem of the export of the cargo that follows them and a serious increase in the cost of logistics,” the SPP says.

The union believes that we can talk about stopping some Russian production facilities due to delays in the supply of raw materials. On September 12, SPP, drawing attention to such problems in the port of Nakhodka, sent a letter to the Ministry of Transport with a request to clarify what measures are being taken to eliminate the difficulties that have arisen at the Nakhodka-Vostochnaya station.

The Ministry of Transport did not respond to Kommersant’s request. JSC Russian Railways confirmed that the rules have been in force since January 1, have not changed since then and are mandatory for all shippers. “Delays in sending individual containers are possible if a discrepancy is found with the established standards for the placement or securing of cargo. This phenomenon is not widespread and is unlikely to significantly affect the processing capacity of port terminals,” the monopoly explains.

Global Ports (which manages the Eastern Stevedoring Company, VSK, in Nakhodka) reported that VSK is operating normally, handling cargo in accordance with the regulations, including taking into account new requirements for the acceptance and dispatch of dangerous goods. “But the requirements, indeed, create the need for additional technological procedures, which means an additional burden on consignees and terminals as shippers, as it entails a decrease in the processing speed of dangerous goods and additional costs for fastening materials,” the company said.

According to Pyotr Bazunov, General Director of SPP, even if Russian Railways does not agree to cancel the requirements, the situation can be improved by agreeing at the intergovernmental level on common requirements for packaging dangerous goods between Russia and the largest shippers – China, Turkey and India. Now, he notes, due to differences in rules, Chinese suppliers are not always able to comply with the requirements of Russian Railways.

Independent expert Leonid Khazanov notes that transportation in the eastern direction is actively growing due to Western sanctions, so that the recipients of goods literally every day count. Problems with logistics, he emphasizes, will complicate the situation for manufacturers and processors of chemical products, “who are already having a hard time.”

Olga Mordyushenko, Natalia Skorlygina