New incentives for the North–South corridor

Further development of the «North-South» corridor requires specific state support for producers. About this was told during the meeting of the Council for the development of the transport complex in the Russian Federation, which took place within the framework of the forum «Transport of Russia», the first deputy director general of JSC «RZD» Sergei Pavlov. 

Measures for the state support of logistics operators within the framework of the national project «International cooperation and export» will be implemented as early as 2025. They are currently being developed at the level of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Russian Export Center will support producers. Specific measures are still being discussed. 

«With a gradual «roll» the route of state support will be minimized and it will come to self-funding», - noted Sergei Pavlov. He also called on the Federation Council to support this work, «so that shippers have the opportunity to receive support for the development of a potentially unoccupied corridor».

The North-South corridor is really underloaded, said earlier «1520 International» head of the department of international cooperation and logistics NATO «Directorate of international transport corridors» Natalia Zadonskaya. In order to encourage its use, JSC «RZD» in October extended the discounts on tariffs for a number of routes.

According to Sergei Pavlov, the railways of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran have set discounts up to 70% on container transport, formed a single reduced container-kilometre rate on the entire eastern route, and discounts on carriage of goods in wagons reach 50%.

«However, the efforts of railway administrations alone to develop this route and to make it a constant and rhythmic volume are not enough, at the beginning there is a need for some state support», - stated the first deputy head of the Russian Federation.

Any measures aimed at reducing the cost of delivering cargo increase the interest of Russian manufacturers in using international transport corridors and help shippers to reorient the flow of goods , says Natalia Zadonskaya.

The Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on Economic Policy, Andrei Kupov, has proposed an interesting option for developing the corridor. In his view, the construction of infrastructure should involve shippers. For this purpose, JSC «RZD» could develop project documentation and make it publicly available. «Those who wish to find. Maybe not now, not at this rate. But it will be there in the future,' said the senator.