Delo Group not planning to close its container terminals on Baltic Sea - CEO

MOSCOW. Oct 20 (Interfax) - Delo Group has no plans to close its container terminals on the Baltic, CEO Dmitry Pankov said during a plenary session of the Made in Russia forum on Thursday.

"Returning to the Baltic. Since June [2022], turnover at container terminals has fallen by 90-95% compared to the same period of the previous year. We are often asked whether there are any plans to close container terminals or at least to repurpose them. Of course, we are replacing some of our cargoes with non-containerized cargoes. As for the answer to the question I just asked - no, we have such no plans. We believe in restoration of cargo flow. Moreover, we see the work being done by the state to restore this route, and most importantly, we are beginning to see interest from foreign container operators to use this route," Pankov said.

Speaking of the Azov-Black Sea basin, Pankov said that the company is seeing active work by Turkish operators to restore cargo traffic and is involved in it.

"For example, recently we have nearly implemented a project for the development of freight ferry service between Novorossiysk and Turkey with the direct participation and support of the government, the Transport Ministry, and the Russian Export Center. This will relieve overland border crossings and increase the existing cargo flow from our Turkish partners," he said.

"This is a new technology that involves promptly unloading trains at our container terminal, transferring them to the rear terminal, where they will be subject to a more detailed inspection," Pankov said.