Russian Railways’ proposals on changing the profile of Far East ports submitted to RF Ministry of Transport

The monopoly considers facilities for handling of fertilizers and grain more viable than coal terminals

Russian Railways’ proposals on changing the profile of Far East ports in view of cargo flows and logistic chains alteration amid the sanctions have been submitted to RF Ministry of Transport, Aleksey Shilo, Deputy General Director of Russian Railways – head of the Centre for Corporate Transport Services, said at the meeting of the expert club of the Eurasian Union of Railway Freight Transportation Players.

“We suggest that port infrastructure owners change the profile of Far East ports as the freight structure changes in the eastern region. The proposals have already been submitted to the Ministry of Transport. Today, we cannot deliver as much coal as the ports are designed to handle and we do not have facilities for handling of grain and fertilizers in the Far East. According to our calculations, we will need additional facilities for handling containers if empty containers and imports will flow via Russia’s eastern region,” he said.

According to IAA PortNews source in the industry, Russian Railways has failed to redirect at least 12 million tonnes of export cargo to the eastern routes due to the lack of facilities for handling of mineral fertilizers and grain in the Far East ports.

Following the beginning of a “special military operation” in Donbass, the USA and EU countries terminated most of export/import operations with Russia and international shipping lines suspended cargo bookings to/from Russia. In this situation, North-West cargo flows were redirected southwards and eastwards.