Existing and potential BRICS participants account for 66 percent of the world’s population, 36 percent of global GDP, and have a 46 percent share in international container trade. Estimates suggest that by 2030, their share in global GDP will rise to 38 percent, driven by an expected real GDP growth rate of4.1 percent annually — significantly higher than the global average growth rate of 2.4 percent. Real GDP growth in absolute terms for the current and future BRICS countries is expected to reach $10.7 trillion, and therefore would be comparable to GDP growth for the rest of the world ($10.8 trillion). As for containerised international trade, BRICS countries may well increase their volumes in this sector by 25 percent by 2030.
About 90 percent of international container traffic from within BRICS goes to non-BRICS countries. Nonetheless, the share of shipments within the group increased from 9 percent in 2015 to 11 percent in 2023, even though this growth was mostly attributable to Russia switching from European to Chinese suppliers in the container shipping sector over the past three years. Therefore, efforts to further expand trade within BRICS and engage countries seeking to join this group hold a major promise as a growth opportunity for the international container shipping sector.
For Russia, BRICS is a key partner in its container trade. In fact, BRICS countries accounted for 71 percent, or about 1.2 million TEUs, of Russia’s container imports in 2023, and 72 percent, or about 2 million TEUs, of container exports. The lack of balance between imports and exports can be viewed as an opportunity for expanding containerised exports to BRICS countries and developing increasingly complex transport routes for shipping containers, while also using alternative container designs, such as foldable options, to address the issue of empty container and ship returns.
The emergence of new centres of economic growth and an active push to develop container infrastructure, including container terminals and fleets, within BRICS in its current form and in countries which could join this group in the future, could pave the way for creating new corridors for the BRICS countries, offering a more competitive solution in terms of price and delivery time.
Today, BRICS countries have emerged as Russia’s key strategic partners in container logistics, accounting for over two-thirds of its foreign container trade. This partnership demonstrates the group’s instrumental role in building stable and resilient logistics chains in Russia’s foreign trade.
The following factors may help Russia fulfil its potential and reinforce its standing in the international container shipping sector:
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Enhancing the containerisation of Russian exports
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Developing the existing international transport corridors and creating new ones
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Eliminating infrastructure bottlenecks
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Stimulating investment in the development of Russia’s maritime container fleet and securing control over seaport terminal infrastructure abroad
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Removing customs barriers, red tape and other restrictions at the level of BRICS countries, i.e., promoting seamless logistics
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Establishing payment system and cross-border lending for investment projects in the transport sector
Existing and prospective BRICS countries already account for about half of global container shipping. Their increasing influence and economic growth will be accompanied by a growing demand for reliable logistics solutions in international cooperation. Building effective partnerships and enabling them to deliver will require streamlining market access for participating countries, introducing e-documents, removing customs and phytosanitary barriers, reducing trade barriers and tariff protections, as well as creating a new system for carrying out international settlements.
