Losses will be cut for military cargo – Newspaper Kommersant No. 220 (7421) dated 11/28/2022
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The Ministry of Transport proposed a draft methodology for compensating for losses to participants in the rail transportation market for the transportation of goods and passengers for defense needs. Payments can be received by Russian Railways, operators and owners of rolling stock. The compensation limit is unknown. According to lawyers, the application of the document can be burdened by state secrets, and practice shows that companies usually still have to receive money through the courts.
The Ministry of Transport submitted for discussion by market participants a draft methodology for compensating for losses to owners of railway infrastructures and rolling stock in the course of transportation “in cases of a threat to socio-economic stability, defense capability, and state security.” This includes compensation for losses to operators and owners of wagons and containers caused by their use in the interests of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and other troops. Kommersant saw the document.
According to the documents, it is proposed to compensate Russian Railways for expenses related to the transportation of passengers, baggage and cargo, including military cargo, as well as the empty mileage of specially designated trains and wagons. We are talking about payments for additional operations, escort and protection, loss or damage to railway property. Operators can receive compensation for expenses and lost income related to the preparation of rolling stock for the transportation of goods, including military goods, the provision of rolling stock for such transportation, the payment of a tariff for sending an empty wagon, the loss or damage to wagons and containers during such transportation.
The Ministry of Transport did not explain what the limit of compensation for these purposes could be. Russian Railways declined to comment.
The Union of Railway Transport Operators (SOJT) explains that the adoption of regulatory legal acts, which include the methodology for calculating compensable losses, is provided for by a government decree of July 18, 2008. “It describes the basic principles of compensation for losses to the carrier, the owner of the infrastructure and the operators of the rolling stock,” they say in SOZHT. “At the same time, the very form of documents confirming the implementation of transportation, and the methodology for calculating losses (in the form of subsidies) subject to compensation, were approved by the Ministry of Transport in 2008 year, but only for carriers and infrastructure owners. Now it is being considered to supplement it with a section on the procedure for compensating losses and operators. This, in fact, is a necessary consequence of the previously adopted normative acts.”
The SOZHT is studying the proposed changes “taking into account the position of the operator companies.” The operating companies themselves do not comment on the losses associated with the requisition of railcars for defense needs.
The head of Infoline-Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, notes that the Center for Branded Transport Services (CFTO) of Russian Railways, which acts as an agent, attracts mainly universal platforms and box cars for special transportation, especially with a body volume of 120 cubic meters or less. According to the expert, for some covered wagon operators, the share of the fleet attracted by the CFTO was about 5%, for others it reached 10%. Basically, we are talking about the western test site, where the share of such a park could be even higher.
According to Mr. Burmistrov, TsFTO already pays for cargo operations and empty runs, but the amount of compensation, taking into account the current level of expenses of operators, is insufficient and leads to financial losses: they are not so significant when performing a loaded flight, but much higher when empty. The imperfection of the compensation scheme is exacerbated by the fact that demurrage during loading and unloading is not paid. According to the expert, it is precisely because of this that one of the major operators completely left the market for operating universal platforms and low-cube boxcars (see Kommersant dated November 11).
It is difficult to assume how the methodology set out in the document is applicable in reality, says Pavel Ickert, managing partner of the law firm Ickert and Partners. He notes that the transportation of goods “in connection with the need to ensure stability, defense and security” is associated in some cases with the regime of state secrets. “And the use of such a technique allows, by fairly simple calculations, to establish, for example, in which directions, in which trains and in what quantity, goods or people could be delivered in order to ensure the security of the state,” the lawyer explains. He believes that such information may well be classified as a state secret and its falling into the hands of third parties may in itself be contrary to the interests of society and the state.
Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner at Rustam Kurmaev & Partners, doubts the effectiveness of the document itself. The practice of creating such methods, the lawyer emphasizes, shows that “in most cases they do not take into account aspects that are important for companies, and therefore, most often they manage to receive appropriate compensation only through the courts.”
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