Higher Far East port container traffic in July leads to shortage of empty railcars to ship cargoes west - CBR

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Transport companies saw a shortage in July of empty railcars to send imported goods from the Far East to the western regions of Russia, the Russian Central Bank said in its September review of the regional economy.

"The container turnover at [Far Eastern] ports in July was 5% higher than the average monthly turnover for January-June of this year. However, the volume of import deliveries was 1.8 times higher than export deliveries. Due to the increased imbalance, transport companies noted a shortage of empty railcars for the shipment of imported cargoes to the western regions of the country. In order to increase container shipments and redistribute the load at the terminals, at the end of July, imports from China to Russia were launched using the railway bridge opened in November 2022 in the Jewish Autonomous Region," the review said.

In addition, one of the major ports opened a new storage area adjacent to the railway tracks in order to quickly unload containers. In August, the list of goods entering Russia via the automobile border crossing in the Amur Region was expanded.

Cargo turnover of the Far Eastern ports reached a new high in July, the Central Bank said. From June-August, carriers from Asian countries launched several new container services through the ports of the Far East, which contributed to a 25% reduction of tariffs by early September compared to June, the Central Bank said.