According to forecast made by RBC analysts, Russian market of international container transportation will grow 3.4-fold by 2012, RBC reports. Growth rtes of container import will make 23.2% per year while the level of its containerization will reach 17%. It is forecasted that the share of the North-Western ports (mainly the ports of St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad) will continue to increase in gross container flow of the RF, while the share of the Far Eastern segment (including Transbaikalia) will decrease. Southern segment will also lose its positions. The share of Kazakhstan (including transit via Russia-Kazakhstan border) is to grow from 0.4% to 1.7%.
High growth rates of container turnover in the ports of St. Petersburg should be attributed to the long-term plans of the container market leaders aiming at capacity increase of the North-Western ports (in particular, commissioning of Ust-Luga container terminal in 2010). Start of operation at Baltic container terminal will influence positively the development of Kaliningrad port hub considering introduction of Ust-Luga – Kaliningrad(Baltijsk) - German ports ferry line. Within the medium-term period, we can expect further decrease of Finland and Baltic states share in transit of Russian container cargo. Total share of these countries will decrease from 10.7% to 5.2% in 2006-2012.
