Railways want to forcibly take wagons to transport containers

JSC Russian Railways, in anticipation of another round of a fleet shortage for the export of containers from the Far East, wants to obtain the authority to forcibly attract empty gondola cars to be loaded with container imports. The owner of such gondola cars is offered a minimum payment. Operators believe that the current procedure for organizing the removal of containers, which took shape last year, allows them to cope with the situation, and the requisition of the fleet is illegal in its essence and will not help solve the problem.

Russian Railways, predicting a repeat of last year’s shortage of capacities for the export of imported containers from the Far East, offers to give itself the opportunity to pick up other people’s empty gondola cars for these goods.

“In some ports of the Far East, there is a growing likelihood of a repeat of the crisis situation at the end of 2022 regarding the excess of the norms for the availability of large-capacity containers at sea terminals due to the insufficient availability of rolling stock for the export of imports,” Deputy Director General of Russian Railways Alexei Shilo said in a June letter to the Ministry of Transport. He writes that during the period from June 15 to June 27, the loss of loading of imported containers at the Far East Railway terminals due to a shortage of wagons amounted to 7234 TEU, but during this time more than 16 thousand empty wagons departed from the port stations of Primorye. Their use would allow to take out up to 32 thousand containers.

In this regard, Mr. Shilo proposes that Russian Railways be empowered to use rolling stock owned by operators to transport imported containers during peak periods of their arrival at ports. According to the company’s proposal, in the event of a shortage of wagons for the export of containers from the ports of the Far East, Russian Railways should have the right to attract gondola cars that are not used for loading and belong to operators and other owners.

Payment for the provision of wagons is “determined based on the lowest value” established in the agreements between Russian Railways and the owners of the wagons, according to a draft government decree prepared by Russian Railways. JSC Russian Railways told Kommersant that “together with other market participants, they are successfully coping with the growth in imports through the ports of the Far East using the technology of transporting containers in gondola cars, from which export coal is unloaded.” They said that in July the average daily export of containers from the Far East amounted to 3235 TEU, which is 1.5 times more year on year. The average daily export of containers in gondola cars in July amounted to 819 TEU.

“On July 19, an absolute record was set for the export of containers from the ports of the Far East in gondola cars – 1,394 TEU, or 12 trains,” says Russian Railways. Now, they explain, the loading of terminals in the Far East is about 70%, “with an increase in import container traffic, Russian Railways will be able to export 4,500 TEU per day, but only on condition that a sufficient amount of rolling stock is provided for this.” They say that, in general, “gondola car owners have already appreciated the benefits of backloading with containers and provide rolling stock on a permanent basis.”

The market did not meet with the idea of ​​requisitioning gondola cars in the Far Eastern Federal District. The Union of Railway Transport Operators (SOZHT), which should consider the issue the other day, wrote to the Ministry of Transport in July that for emerging problems, such as a lack of wagons, processing capacities, abandonment of trains, etc., through joint efforts within the framework of the operational headquarters formed in 2022 mutually acceptable solutions are already being found.

The proposal of Russian Railways is considered illegal by the SOZHT, since it is not subject to restrictions on the circumstances of the alienation of property for state needs (natural disasters, accidents, epidemics, epizootics and other circumstances of an emergency nature). The SOZHDT speaks about the “vagueness of concepts” in the draft resolution, the absence of an indication of the Far East, as well as the “unacceptably low level of payment for the services of operators.”

The regulatory consolidation of additional powers of Russian Railways to withdraw the fleet looks strange, a Kommersant source among operators agrees: “Firstly, the very procedure for securing powers is in no way fixed in terms of terms and conditions. Secondly, it is not clear why such regulation should be introduced, what specific improvements it will lead to in the Far East. Thirdly, it is obvious that the idea of ​​withdrawing the fleet in the Far East is of a non-market nature and will lead to problems with other transportation, since the fleet of operators will be withdrawn, and it will become more and more difficult to ensure the fulfillment of obligations, including to backbone enterprises.

Another source in one of the major operators believes that the proposed solution will not solve the systemic problem of fleet balance on the network. “It’s more like plugging holes,” he says. “What’s the system problem? Today, from the West Siberian Railway (ZSZhD) to the Far East, shippers sit without a park. The rental price is going up. With their requests, container workers will simply increase the fleet deficit even more. If the park for containers is taken by force, the country will fail in exports and will be left without money tomorrow.” At the same time, he says, to the west of the West Siberian Railway, “we have a huge park that simply does not rent out on Zapsib.” In his opinion, in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to return the concept of 100% fulfillment of requests for transportation (GU-12), which will free up the fleet, since “now everyone is pressing the volume of the fleet, hoping to increase the percentage of fulfillment of their GU-12, as well as slow down the entrance from Far East to the Western Siberian Railway, so that the fleet does not move there.”

Natalya Skorlygina