Containers are customized with a ruble – Newspaper Kommersant No. 213 (7414) dated 11/17/2022
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The Ministry of Transport proposes to solve the problem of container traffic jams in the ports of the Far East by launching additional container trains instead of other cargo and raising the tariff for container transportation in the eastern direction. In parallel, it is proposed to give a discount on the export of containers through the ports of the North-West. The latter idea was greeted with bewilderment in the industry, as container transshipment in the Baltic Sea stopped due to sanctions. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, in its current form, the idea of raising tariffs for containers will only increase the income of Russian Railways.
The head of the Ministry of Transport, Vitaly Savelyev, at a meeting of the President of the Russian Federation with members of the government on November 16, proposed measures that, in his opinion, will help solve the problem of exporting imported containers from the ports of the Far East. The problems, he said, arose due to “restrictions on shipping in the Northwest, covid lockdowns in China and an annual increase in demand before the New Year holidays.” The minister stated that the container terminals in the Far East are overloaded: as of November 14, the actual loading of five port container terminals is 117%, the loading of six rear terminals is 74%, while ships with 15 thousand TEU on board are waiting for unloading.
To solve the problem, Vitaly Savelyev proposed, firstly, to increase the export of containers by road. However, she herself admitted that the share of vehicles in the transportation of containers in the Far East is already 9% and “this is the maximum for the use of vehicles on such a large shoulder.” The second measure is to increase the number of trains with containers in gondola cars from one to five per day. This, according to the minister, will allow exporting up to 710 TEU per day, or up to 21,000 TEU per month. He confirmed that the 20.7% discount for the transportation of containers in gondola cars is planned to be extended for the whole of 2023 (see Kommersant of September 28 and October 31). Also, Mr. Savelyev proposed to increase the number of container trains in the east direction by three pairs per day until the end of this year “by reducing the transportation of goods, including coal.” As a result, according to him, the transportation of thermal coal by the end of the year will decrease by 800 thousand tons, but they plan to deliver it in 2023 until April 15.
As a last measure, the minister proposed to increase tariffs for container transportation in the eastern direction in 2023, while at the same time reducing them for transportation to the ports of the North-West. In his opinion, this will stimulate the transportation of containers to the ports of the North-West. Russian Railways did not explain the possible size of these discounts and surcharges. The maximum discount that Russian Railways has the right to give to containerized cargo is 50%.
Kommersant’s interlocutors in the industry took the idea of introducing a discount in the northwestern direction with irony, given that now container ships practically do not enter the Russian ports of the Baltic. The situation has not improved in any way since the spring, when all the world’s container lines left the direction, and large European hubs refused to work with Russian containers (see Kommersant on April 12). In the third quarter, as IPEM and PortNews reported in October, the volume of container handling in the ports of the Baltic basin decreased by 85.7% year-on-year.
As for the eastern direction, Russian Railways has already noted that export traffic through the ports of the Far East and the importation of containers from there to Central Russia are growing sharply, and even a 4.75% increase in the container transportation tariff in 2022 did not affect the volumes. The company emphasized that the gap between the higher indexation of other cargoes and containers at 11.2% remains (see Kommersant of October 31).
Kommersant’s source suggests that the new increase in the tariff for containers in the eastern direction is designed to increase the income of Russian Railways, but in the current situation, the Eastern landfill will not unload this and will not increase the carrying capacity.
“An increase in the tariff for transportation to the Far East, in the absence of an alternative, cannot be considered as a motivational measure,” says Svetlana Brokar, adviser to the chairman of the Eurasian Union of Participants in Rail Freight Transportation (ESP, which unites large container operators). for industry and the public, so we do not support this proposal.” She notes that if the tariff is indexed by 10%, this would mean an increase in the rail transport tariff over the past 13 months of more than 31%, and this does not include a 4.75% increase for containers in 2022.
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