Magazines — RZD-Partner International — 1 (5) March-May 2006
1 (5) March-May 2006
"IF IT IS TRANSIT, WE'LL MAKE IT COMPETITIVE": "Russia hosts foreign airplanes, in the future we'll welcome trains (the Finnish "Sibelius" has already been calling) and, consequently, river vessels. We ought not to close, but, on the opposite, we should encourage the boost of transportation volumes", assures Igor Levitin, The RF Minister of Transport.DEPENDENT COAL: Lately Russian coal sector has been considered one of the most stable and fast developing, due to high coal prices on the world markets and investment activity of coal producers. Analysts evaluate coal produce at about 282 million tons in 2005.
TO SAVE RUSSIAN SHIPBUILDING: Russia is one of the leading sea powers in the world, historically in possession of a strong merchant, fishery and military fleet. However, by now it has almost lost its leading positions in the sphere of shipping and shipbuilding.
TransSiberian question
TRANSPORT CORRIDORS
In January 2006, transportation of containerized freight along the TransSiberian Railway almost stopped. On January 1, 2006, railway tariffs on transit freight transportation along the TransSib increased by 30% for loaded containers and threefold-fourfold for empty ones. That became the last straw for the cargo owners, already facing the imperfect work of the customs bodies and the drawbacks of logistics. As a result, according to the data of the port of Vostochny, in January 2006, only 825 transit containers were handled in the port, i.e. 3,712 containers down year-on-year.