Special terminals may receive priority in coal supplies

The government proposes to give priority when transporting coal to cargo flows sent to specialized coal terminals, since they carry out transshipment faster and more technologically than universal ones. The decision is related to the complaint of the ex-owner of Kuzbassrazrezugol Andrei Bokarev that the associated Vostochny port is less than 50% loaded, while half of the coal transportation goes to non-core terminals in the Far East. According to experts, the priority is justified, although it is important to clarify which terminals are considered specialized. But a number of market participants, in particular the Association of Commercial Sea Ports, see the creation of priorities only as a way to limit competition.

On December 22, 2023, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov sent a report to the President of the Russian Federation in which he proposed introducing, within the framework of temporary rules for the priority of cargo transportation, priority for coal transportation in the direction of specialized coal ports relative to universal terminals (“Kommersant has seen the letter”). Mr. Belousov writes that, in the opinion of the Ministry of Transport, the redistribution of cargo flows in the direction of special ports will speed up operations and increase transshipment volumes, noting that when using car dumpers, the technological standard for unloading a car is reduced by 15 times relative to unloading a car using the grab method – from an hour to four minutes.

Initially, the proposal came from the Vostochny Port and was presented in a letter from Andrei Bokarev to the president dated November 8 (“Kommersant has seen the document”). Mr. Bokarev (he was a co-owner of Kuzbassrazrezugol, but since the spring of 2022, like many other Russian businessmen, he has restructured the property) complained that, despite large-scale investments in the Vostochny port, including 8 billion rubles. only for environmental measures, rail transportation to it has decreased by 7% since 2020, to 23.9 million tons, with available capacity of 55 million tons.

According to the data provided in the letter, in 2023, special terminals accounted for 47.8% of the volume of export coal transshipment in the ports of the Far East, or 53.2 million tons.

Moreover, if the volume of coal transshipment in the ports of the region as a whole has doubled since 2012, then in special ports it has only increased by 1.3 times.

“Non-core stevedoring companies occupy 50% of the capacity in proportion to the declared volumes, actually reducing the volume of mono cargo (coal) transportation to specialized ports,” Mr. Bokarev wrote, asking for priority for special ports within the framework of temporary priority rules. The President instructed the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov and Andrey Belousov to analyze the proposal.

The Ministry of Transport told Kommersant that they support this initiative. JSC Russian Railways, they said, welcomes any initiatives aimed at optimizing the transportation process and optimal use of capacity.

“The problem is that there is a constant shortage of cargo both in ports and in specialized terminals,” NTK (which manages the transport assets of SUEK and EuroChem, including specialized coal ports in Vanino and Nakhodka) told Kommersant. — Average loading – 70% for everyone. Redistribution of flows will not solve the problem of insufficient railway capacity. Administrative regulation may improve the situation of individual terminals, but this is unlikely to improve the situation with exports as a whole.”

The country’s economy could benefit from the support of ocean ports that provide geographic freedom of export and its versatility and have the ability to work with the largest tonnage fleet, the STC added. Elgaugol confirms the need to increase cargo flow in the direction of specialized coal ports.

Now, according to Mr. Belousov’s letter, work is underway to determine the characteristics of a specialized terminal.

According to Kommersant’s information, as one of these features, the Ministry of Transport proposes the use of car dumpers and defrosting devices at terminals (to combat freezing of coal in winter).

From the correspondence of the departments, which Kommersant saw, it follows that priority is planned to be applied within the framework of the sixth stage of temporary rules – that is, the transportation of standard coal cargoes. At the same time, coal exports from Kuzbass, Buryatia, Khakassia, Tuva and Yakutia, according to regional agreements with Russian Railways, are carried out within the framework of the higher priority third stage. Such coal accounted for about 64% of coal transportation in the eastern direction. In 2024, the volume of quotas for regions will increase by 6%, to 99.3 million tons. Thus, coal sent in the third stage for export to the universal terminal will still have priority over coal in the sixth stage to the specialized one.

Not all market participants support the initiative. Thus, on January 12, the Association of Commercial Sea Ports, in a letter to the head of the Ministry of Transport Vitaly Savelyev (available to Kommersant), emphasizes that “the real reason for the underutilization of sea terminals is primarily related to the infrastructure limitations of the railways.” The introduction of priorities will not eliminate this problem, “but will lead to a redistribution of cargo flows in certain directions, including at the Eastern range.” The document emphasizes that the requirements for terminals intended for coal transshipment are limited to the need to have a license, comply with the requirements of environmental legislation, technical regulations on the safety of maritime transport facilities and adhere to the best available technologies. The introduction of priorities “is unreasonably discriminatory and will entail an artificial redistribution of the cargo base between marine terminal operators.”

The head of Infoline-Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, says that specialized terminals provide greater loading and unloading speed and careful handling of wagons, so their priority is justified. But it is important how the criteria for “specialized terminals” will be determined. According to the expert, what is important is not the name, but the list of equipment: car dumpers and hot houses must be installed, coal must be handled in a closed manner and environmental protection must be ensured.

Natalia Skorlygina, Evgeny Zainullin