Cars Will Be Transported by Rail
08.10.2008 (17:28)
Japanese automaker Mazda and RailTransAuto OJSC began car transportation from the special terminal Zarubino on Far East to the terminal Mikhnevo in Podmoskovye. Mazda is the first car manufacturer which decided to transport its finished products along the Transsiberian railway through Russia.
The Board of directors of Mazda Motors Corporation took decision to change logistic scheme of transportation of cars exported to Russia. The new route was tested.
The Japanese cars are transported via Indian Ocean, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The unloading is carried out in four European ports. Then cars are supplied to customers. The transportation process lasts 70 days.
Mazda got consent of OAO RZD to transport cars by Transsib one year ago. The first testing train departed in September 2007.
“Unfortunately, the process of the agreements signing is going on very slow”, Joerg Schreiber, General Director of Mazda Motor Rus says. The car company used this time for economic ground of the project. In February 2008 one wagon for car transportation was included in the cargo train. The cargo was transported during 24 days. 330 cars were carried from the Far East in April. Several cars were transported in airplane from Zhukovsky (Moscow region) to the Japanese plant to determine railway transportation impact on the cargo safety.
The agreement signed by Mazda and RailTransAuto OJSC testifies successful completion of all tests. 9 route trains consisting of 30 wagons was departed on Transsiberian Railway on 29 September 2008. The schedule for these trains was developed. The wagons of these route trains will not be sorted. The trains will be stopped for safety inspection and locomotive change only. These measures allow to provide speed of 900 km per 24 hours and reduce total delivery time to 10 days. Wagon for car transportations are used for fast traffic, they can run 110 – 120 km/h.
The project will reduce cars delivery time and improve the company’s liquidity”, Jorgen Olesen, Mazda Motor Vice President for Customer Service and Logistics, says.
Mr. Olesen doesn’t reveal economic parameters of the project but he notes that car transportation by rail will not be more expensive than water transportation. Covered wagons of 11-1291 type will be used for Mazda cars transportation. These wagons were constructed by RailTransAuto and Ruzhimmash plant. The cars will be protected with special protective film. “Mazda demands safety of its cargo. The new wagon and modern terminal Michnevo allow to provide high level of safety”, Maksim Liksutov, Deputy Chairman of RailTransAuto BOD, says.
Minimal volume of transportation on route Zarubino – Mikhnevo is 900 cars a week. 33% of cars Mazda 3 will be carried by rail. According to experts it will satisfy requirements of Moscow region.
Russia takes 4-th place among Mazda markets. The company exported 52,000 cars in Russia in first 8 months 2008. It exceeded the results of previous year. In 2008 Mazda plans to supply about 80,000 cars, the cars carried on Transsib were not included. The company’s managers consider that they will provide considerable growth.
OAO RZD mentions positive tendencies in special fast trains operation. 1,175 container trains ran on Russian railways (+200 year-on-year) in 2008. 127,000 containers were transported (+30,000 year-on-year). Average speed of the train carried cars amounted to 927 km/day and 1,100-1,200 km/day on some sections.
According to M.Liksutov, new car transportation needs development of modern infrastructure in the starting and destination points of the route. RailTransAuto develops terminals in the regions where the cars are in great demand – Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk and Ekaterinburg.
RailTransAuto owns 2,500 special wagons for car transportation, their quantity will be increased to 5,100 by the end of 2010. The company plans to cooperate with other clients.
According to A. Kuznetsov, several foreign car manufacturers carry out testing transportation. It is planned to carry out regular trains’ traffic from China via Zabaykalsk where container and car terminal operates.
by Mikhail Kuzminov
Print version
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