Russian shipping companies look into operation on rivers and lakes of Europe
It was discussed at the webinar “River fleet of Europe. What is useful for us or how do they make profit?”
Shipping companies of Russia should look into resuming the practice of operation between European ports and on inland water ways of Europe with short sea voyages, Professor Gennady Yegorov, D.Sc. in Engineering, General Director of Marine Engineering Bureau, said at the webinar “River fleet of Europe. What is useful for us or how do they make profit?” organized by IAA PortNews.
“Substantial volumes of cargo are flowing around us and it is quite possible for us to enter waterways of Europe. The size of our ships is fine for fitting into some European canals, rivers and lakes. At the same time they can be loaded with more cargo than European casters. This business was also available earlier and I believe our ships can be in demand there. Let’s stop looking only to the south with its grain. Good money can be made in Europe, the more so as we have a new fleet”, said Gennady Yegorov.
According to Andrey Gorlenko, Development Director, Transport Assets Management LLC, the company earlier considered the European market of short-sea shipping “merely touching” due to its spot character and relatively low profit-making capacity. Now, amid the plunged volume of shipments on inland water ways of Russia, it is ready for a thorough consideration of a possibility to work in this market.
As Aleksey Tarazanov, head of Turkish shipping company Marlin Shipmanagement, said at the webinar, one of the key challenges for operation in Europe is employment of qualified crewmembers with a fair knowledge of the foreign language. In this context, the ship owner considers it necessary to develop autonomisation of ships with a purpose to reduce the number of crewmembers. Reliability of automation systems and machinery as a whole is crucial in this respect.
The issues of unmanned navigation were discussed during the webinar “Autonomous ships – progress or blind lane?” organized by PortNews Media Group. The event records are available here >>>>
Igor Ganin, General Director of Prime Shipping company, says that full-scale operation in Europe is possible under a flag of an EU country. Besides, it is difficult for Russian ship owners to compete with European ones because of excessive requirements imposed on Russian ships while European shipping companies have a strong state support.
An example was given by Gennady Yegorov: according to technical regulations, fuel and lubricant tanks should not be in contact with vessel shell plating. According to the expert, neither European regulations nor MARPOL have such a requirement for such small sizes. In Russia, it leads to increased size of small ships and, consequently, to increased power of engines, fuel consumption and construction costs.
According to Konstantin Anisimov, Deputy Head of Rosmorrechflot (Federal Marine and River Transport Agency), ships in the EU are supplied with excise free fuel and get subsidies for modernization of engines.
“River shipping companies need a state support”, said Konstantin Anisimov.
