Oleg Belozerov, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Russian Railways, took part in the Russia-Japan business dialogue, which was held at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on 25 May 2018.
Belozerov stressed that the RZD transport and logistics holding company is focusing increasing attention on the development of cooperation with Japanese companies.
At the moment, about one third of all traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway consists of freight transported to or from Japan.
In 2017, a record volume of about 44 million tons was shipped, which is almost 10% more than in 2016.
“We offer our Japanese partners a full range of logistics services: shipments in accordance with a strict timetable, information support and multimodal transportation from door to door. In October 2017, we also created a one-stop information service for Japanese companies,” said the head of Russian Railways.
Speaking about the tasks for the future, Oleg Belozerov announced the Company’s readiness to develop seamless logistics in Northeast Asia which would ensure effective connections between sea and rail routes.
“Together with Japan’s Ministry of Transport, we plan to organise a series of test shipments, said the Company head.
Belozerov also said that the most ambitious project, which can be realised only through joint efforts, was connecting Japan, Russia and Eurasia via the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaido.
At the moment, the technical and economic parameters of such a project require a joint detailed feasibility study.
According to preliminary estimates, the new route would transport up to 30 million tons of freight per annum.
The CEO of Russian Railways said that one more area which was gaining increasing momentum was the modernisation of the clinics owned by the Company.
A pilot project is now underway to create a Russian-Japanese centre for preventive medicine and diagnostics on the basis of the Company’s hospital in Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East regions.
Support from Japan’s Ministry of Health has enabled the centre to attract a consortium of Japanese investment and medical partners.