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The representatives of railroad administrations respond to the question posed to them by "New East's" correspondent, Viktor Yurusov: "How important is it to develop transport corridors from East to West and West to East?"
Gennady Fadeev,
First, let me say that compared with April of last year the transport volumes of the Trans-Siberian railroad have grown by over 50 per cent. Goods moving from East to West and from West to East make up an important fraction of this increase. It is clear now that the system of long distance intercontinental cargo transport has started to work. However, there are still some problems to be solved in this area. The most important one is de-monopolizing the water route from the Vostochny seaport to Japan and South Korea. Currently two private companies that naturally put their own interests above all others, control this area. As a result, goods are sometimes stored at the terminals for quite a long time while they wait for transportation. This problem must be solved. Today we are focusing our attention on the extension of the land link Vladivostok-Brest (on the Poland border), Vladivostok-Luzhaika (on the Finnish border). Railroads play an important role in these transport corridors, especially the October Railroad, which has become one of the most important transport channels for transferring cargo through the East-West border. The extension of the 9th Corridor is a real, living, reliable and profitable business. Regardless of all the changes in the economic situation of the countries involved, including Russia of course, the volume of goods transported to Finland and further on to Western Europe have been constantly growing and will continue to do so in the future. The tariff policies of Finland are very reasonable in this direction, including the seaport branch, which is not true in relation to Russian seaports where tariffs are higher than the European average, including those of the Baltic States. Moreover, unlike our national carriers, transport services in Finland are of very high quality. As for the construction of new Russian seaports in the Gulf of Finland, I have one thing to say: Russia needs them. But everything must be balanced and evaluated: one should invest money into business that will bring immediate returns. New seaports must work on the same level as Western ones and those of the Baltic States. Otherwise no one will use them. Furthermore, one should use what has already been created in a more efficient manner. For instance, the seaports of St. Petersburg, Murmansk and Archangelsk are currently using only half of their capacities.
Boris Lapidus,
I would like to elaborate on the issue of seaport development. Active Russian commercial bases must be created. In order to achieve this an appropriate decree of the President of Russian Federation on the revival of the Russian commercial fleet is required. These transportation capacities must be created on the basis of competition. We have to improve the competitiveness of the transportation system of Russia. The attempts to transfer cargo flows from the powerful and perfectly equipped deep-water seaports of the Baltic States simply by administrative fiat will not do. The creation of new seaport systems must be based on their competitiveness. Naturally, the development of railroad infrastructure must also target profits in the immediate future.
Anatoly Zaitsev,
The perspective of developing the 9th Corridor is an important step in the development of our network in general. In fact it provides us with direct access from the Baltic Sea to the center of Russia, Middle Asia and the Far East. At the same time this corridor attracts export cargoes from these regions. These must not be delayed. That is why our task is not only to reduce their delivery times but also to create favorable conditions for faster procedures at border stations and seaports. Currently we are pursuing that objective in collaboration with customs' and border authorities, both Russian and foreign. Faster cargo circulation will result in reduced general transportation costs and will thus attract additional clients to railroad transport. In turn, this will bring additional profits not only to those who own the Corridor but also to those who use it. The extension of the East-West Corridor will also be accomplished via the electrification of the railroad between Moscow, St. Petersburg and Murmansk where the port never freezes in winter (because of the Gulf Stream). There are certain difficulties concerning investments into these projects. However the Ministry of Communications has already decided to allot part of the maintenance funding that has been saved to the completion of the electrification of this line. We are going to extend and develop the experience of transporting cargo in motor trailers, the so-called contrailer transport. This is very profitable both for road carriers and railroad companies. The trailers, when loaded onto special railroad platforms - contrailers - can be delivered from Helsinki to Moscow two or three times faster than if they were traveling via motor highways. We are also participating in high-speed transit via the 9th Corridor of fish refrigerator containers that are being delivered to Russia from Scandinavia. For instance, the Trans-Siberian Express has already delivered over ten such trains to Central Asia. This is very convenient for consignees because the refrigerator containers can be taken literally to their doorsteps.
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