Fundamental modernization and fast growth of Russian economy as well as world market globalization make Russian Railways to set itself a task of priority development of facilities for transshipment of export-import and transit cargo, press center of Russian Railways reports.
Efficient solution is only possible with close cooperation of different types of transport, especially railways and shipping companies. The ports are a kind of a key link determining the efficiency and attractiveness of the intermodal transport system as a whole.
Specialized institutes forecast that by 2015 transshipment of foreign trade cargo in the North-Western ports of Russia will grow to 205.2 million tonnes (in 2007, 85.9 million tonnes of foreign trade cargo was handled in the ports of the North-Western region).
To satisfy the demand for railway transportation of cargo the investment into the ports of the Baltic, White and Barents Seas should make some RUR 360 billion by 2015 (26% of all investments into railway infrastructure of all Russian ports).
Such a large-scale task may not be solved by Russian Railways alone.