Closed export windows
Since March 2022, the entire economy of the country, with the loss of European markets, was forced to begin a turn to the east. According to Russian Railways, in 2022, the volume of traffic in friendly countries increased by 23%, to 365 million tons, while in unfriendly countries there was a decrease by 37%, to 210 million tons. Freight transportation by rail in the direction of Asian countries has increased. In particular, shipments to China increased by 28% to the level of 2021, to 123 million tons.
To the temporary rules of priority
In the conditions of a reversal of the economy, the loading of the Eastern polygon has increased. The rules that were in force in 2020-2021 were replaced by temporary rules for the priority of cargo transportation that came into force on March 15, 2022, within which priority was given to transportation of high-tech products, cargo of the metallurgical complex, petrochemicals, agriculture, SMEs, as well as transportation to Russian consumers.
The East continues to grow
By the end of 2022, Russian Railways has increased the carrying capacity of the Eastern Landfill to 158 million tons. This year it is planned to expand them to 173 million tons. During the year, 21,989 trains weighing 7,100 tons were carried out in the eastern direction, which is twice as much as a year earlier. Additionally, 4 million tons of cargo were transported.
In 2023, Russian Railways plans to increase loading to the east by 18.2%, to 169.6 million tons. In particular, coal loading should increase by 10.6% to 111.8 million tons.
Container influx
Output cargo flows are not the only ones affected by the change in the vector of freight traffic. By the summer of 2022, cargo traffic rushed to the ports of the Far East. By mid-November, the loading of the main five container terminals in the region, according to the Ministry of Transport, was 117%, ships with 15 thousand passengers were waiting for unloading. TEU is on board.
The government decided to focus on increasing the import of containers through Far Eastern ports to 6.5 thousand in the medium term. TEU per day.
Across the border
In parallel with the development of ways and technologies of transportation to the East, work is underway to develop railway border crossings. In November 2022, a new border crossing with China was launched — Nizhneleninskoye—Tongjiang.
It is planned to complete the reconstruction of the railway border crossing of Naushki and Zabaikalsk station.
Also, according to the Ministry of Transport, it is planned to build two new cross-border lines to China: Jalinda—Mohe and Priargunsk—Hailar. Also, the modernization of the Naushki-Zamyn—Uud line with a length of 1.1 thousand km is planned for the development of communication with China via Mongolia by the Ulaanbaatar Railway.
The main one, but not the only one
The interest of exporters in the ports of the North-West is being restored. During 2022, the companies managed to establish supply chains through the north-western ports.
In general, in the first quarter, the transportation of export cargo to the ports of the North-West increased by 9.4% compared to the first quarter of 2022 — up to 34 million tons.
The southern direction was in demand throughout 2022. In 2022, according to Morcenter-TEK, the OTEKO terminal in Taman became the leader in coal transshipment volumes among Russian ports with a total of 30 million tons and an increase of 32.1%; the port of Novorossiysk was the leader in bulk cargo transshipment (106.6 million tons, an increase of 6.3%).
