Ports to lend a helping hand

The transport and logistics market players have adapted their operations to today’s reality and are optimistic in their forecasts about container turnover growth in Russian ports in 2023. The joint efforts by the state, Russian Railways and private businesses may help increase the cargo throughput, as speakers of the Expert Club of the Eurasian Railway Transport Union (ERTU) noted at the end of April.

It should be noted that the Far Eastern ports of the Russian Federation faced transport and logistics difficulties in 2022. In particular, a number of areas such as imports and exports saw a significant growth resulting in the maritime terminals being overloaded.

Recovery of volumes

According to Elena Kazarina, Commercial Director of Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port (VCSP), the container terminal’s cargo throughput reached 770 thousand TEU in 2022. This year the terminal is going to handle a tentative tonnage of 840 thousand TEU.

“Overall, our volume for the first three months of 2023 was 215 thousand TEU. This is a 13% growth (compared to the same period of last year – Editor’s note), she specified. – At the same time the port is aiming to handle 75 thousand TEU a month or more”.

The top manager stressed that VCSP works closely with the state and with Russian Railways. For example, last year the management of the container terminal decided to operate twin trains and reduce the number of container trains that were handled directly on the railroad tracks.

“Together with our colleagues from Russian Railways, we were able to stretch the well car tonnage capacity by using twin trains. The rolling stock entering the port is loaded with either imports or transit, and then it departs by rail. The double-volume operation allows us to deliver very good results in terms of cargo tonnage handled,” she noted.

In turn, the ports of Global Ports (a part of the Delo group of companies) handled 86 thousand TEU in the three months of 2023, says the company commercial director Igor Pukhov. Most of the tonnage was handled by Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company (VSC).

“We see how it is growing. If you look at Q1 2022, it grew by 17%. That’s a pretty good figure. We would like to see a similar growth in the North West,” he stressed.

According to him, the volume of container turnover in the North West in Q1 2023 decreased by around 80%, depending on the terminal.

Help coming from the North West

A share of the cargo turnover in the Far East is gradually shifting to the ports in the North West, notes Igor Pukhov. According to him, Global Ports sees the cargo throughput of these terminals recovering from the low level. Moreover, regular container traffic has been organized in the North West: schedules have started to appear, competition is emerging and various operators are becoming active.

“We expect to reach the figures of 100-150-170 thousand TEU in 2023. Of course, it’s not enough for our terminals because Global Ports’ standard monthly figure in 2021 was around 80 thousand TEU,” he said. – It’s a good thing though, as I said before, that new operators are emerging. It's mostly China, but also India and South America”, notes Igor Pukhov.

Nevertheless, according to him, in 2023 the cargo handling volumes in the ports of the North West will unlikely pass the mark of 1 million TEU, whereas its overall capacities are 5 million TEU.

Investment vector

Today it makes absolutely no sense to invest in the infrastructure that allow the terminal to handle more cargo volumes, says Igor Pukhov citing the surplus capacity of ports in the North West of Russia as an example.

“Today’s investments are more narrowly focused, aimed at specialized projects that will handle the resuming cargo flow. We are also investing in the containerization of bulk cargo, which allows us to optimally load the terminals,” notes the commercial director of Global Ports.

According to Igor Pukhov, Global Ports invested a total of 207 million dollars over the period of 2019-2022. Most of the funds were spent on developing the terminals in the Far East.

According to Elena Kazarina, the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port (VCSP) is planning to invest in equipment. “In the next few years, the port plans to purchase 170 units of wheeled machinery and cranes,” she stressed.

Olga Shelkova