MOSCOW: Russian rail monopoly RZD and the operator of the Yingkou port are looking to create a logistics center in Moscow and a logistics park at the northern Chinese port.
The memorandum of cooperation signed between the duo Russian railroad and China Yingkou Port Group Corporation builds on their respective countries’ plan to build build a new seaport in Zarubino, Russia, with an annual capacity of 2 million. The port on the Sea of Japan is roughly 11 miles from the Chinese border.
The Russian port of Slavyanka in Amur Bay will also be expanded and modernized to the tune of $200 million, providing an outlet for goods manufactured in China’s northeastern provinces. The Russian Tranzit-DV group of companies and the Chinese Zhong Xin Hun group will perform the work.
RZD has promised Chinese shipping companies it will reduce tariffs by 30 to 50 percent on the Harbin – Suifenhe (Heilongjiang) – Vladivostok route to boost containerized rail traffic. The route is critical to China-Russia trade, because Heilongjiang Province, one of China’s largest provinces in the northeast, has no sea access, according to RZD,
Although the majority of trade between Asia and Europe moves over the water, containerized rail traffic between the continents has been growing in recent years. Shippers looking for shorter transit times, with rail transport 40 percent shorter than ocean transits, but cheaper rates than offered via air cargo services, has tapped additional containerized rail, or intermodal rail, services.
Container traffic from China to Europe via Russia will continue to grow during the next several years, because of a shift of light industry production from the Asia Pacific to Southeast Asia region, said Constantine Kuzovkov, vice president of FESCO, one of Russia’s largest container operators.
