The problem of excess stock in Russia’s Far Eastern ports has been settled, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with Government members. The transcript of the meeting is published on the official website of the Kremlin.
“We have settled the problem of excess stock in our Far Eastern ports. Today they are operating on a normal, scheduled basis, both as regards exports and the westward movement of containers entering the country. I would like to express gratitude for this to the Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways,” said the President.
As of the end of February, the volume of cargo transportation by rail was increased, said Vladimir Putin adding that the preliminary data for March show that this trend has continued to improve.
“However, there is still much to do. This year, for example, we must finish the deepening of the Volga-Caspian Sea Canal. We will continue working to increase the capabilities of the Eastern Operating Domain of our railway system and the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin and to modernise our border checkpoints,” said Vladimir Putin.
According to him, Russia’s trade with its main partners is growing, thanks to changes in logistics, among other things.
After the country’s logistics turned eastward, the problem of overloading of the Far East ports was addressed by the Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways which set up a rapid response centre to manage the forwarding of containers from port terminals in the Far East.
As Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev said in November 2022, the situation with the loading of port terminals in the Far East can be stabilized by increasing container transport rates for eastbound shipping in 2023 while simultaneously reducing the rates for shipments to the ports in the northwest. According to him, unloading can also be facilitated with more container trains send from the Far East ports. According to him, the following measures should be undertaken: 5 container trains should leave the Far East terminals every day; discount for railway transportation of containers in gondola cars should be extended until the end of 2023; 3 more container trains with gondola cars per should be launched. The Ministry of Transport and the business are to work out a package of measures to ensure shipment of cargo from the Far East of up to 6-6.5 thousand tonnes TEU per day.