Conference in Moscow on 23-24 May – Potential of container shipping

More than 150 industry representatives from Russia and abroad discussed the potential of containerised shipping at the 2nd international conference «Container Transportation of Industrial Goods» in Moscow on 23-24 May 2023.

Amid the current geopolitical challenges, the audience focused on the presentations of delegates from China, the country that has become Russia's main trading partner. Experts of the major Chinese container manufacturers CIMC and SINGAMAS talked about the developments in the design and production of various types of containers and the trends in China's container industry. Russia's RM Rail spoke about the production of container platforms, 20' and 40' containers as well as special-purpose containers in Russia.

The commercial director of Sea Shipping gave a detailed presentation of plans for container transport cooperation between the ports of China and Russia, which was further elaborated by his Shanghai counterpart from a large container logistics holding ISACO Group.

FESCO, RZD Business Asset, Logoper, Eurosib SPb-TS, Ruscon shared their expertise in diversifying container logistics through attracting new foreign partners, offering insights into growth drivers and challenges in the container transportation market.

The FESCO representative highlighted that only combined efforts of public authorities and business can help to build a better global core network (TLCs, Special Economic Zones, transport infrastructure construction and upgrade, Deep Sea services development) to support the development of container logistics.

The development of port infrastructure and redistribution of freight flows among Russian ports were brought up on the table by delegates of Rosmorport, commercial ports of Vladivostok and Arkhangelsk, and Global Ports.

The Global Ports executive pointed out that the container traffic in the Russian North-West may still be well below pre-crisis levels, yet the demand for stevedore services in the Baltic Basin ports is on the rise. As new maritime container shippers come to the North-West of Russia, the cargo tonnages are recovering steadily. The CEO of Soyuzkhimtrans-Auto then followed up on improving containerised shipping in St Petersburg ports.

Great attention was paid to the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor. Representatives of RZD-Logistics, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations of India, TransContainer, Morstroytechnology, TRASKO, and Logitrans Logistics made presentations on developing regular services and transport infrastructure on along this route. The Rosatom delegate spoke about containerised shipping via the Northern Sea Route.

The cargo owners present at the event, such as NLMK, SVEZA, and SIBUR, shared their experiences in building container logistics amid redistributed freight flows and imbalanced infrastructure, as well as in organising transportation of cargo in various types of containers.

The second day of the conference centred on development of synchronised container handling in the Russian Railways network.

The deputy head of the Russian Railways Central Traffic Control Directorate highlighted the «depersonalised fleet» solution that needed to be pioneered in Russia to manage RZD container traffic as a way to transport more of imported containers from the Russian Far East. He also emphasised that major infrastructure upgrades are required at key stations of the Far Eastern operating area in addition to the «depersonalised fleet» solution for open cars and container platforms incorporated in the Far Eastern Railway development action plan that he presented at the conference.

An analysis of the development of container freight transportation by rail was presented by the Deputy General Director of the Institute for Transport Economics and Development. New solutions for container handling within the Russian Railways network were overviewed by the head of the Commercial Services of the Central Management Directorate for the Terminal and Warehouse Complex (CM), a branch of Russian Railways. Opportunities for transportation by transit container trains through the network of Ulaan Baator Railways were discussed by the Ulaan Baator Railway delegate.

If you are keen to be part of these discussions or get more interesting information and meet new colleagues and partners, we look forward to seeing you next year.