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- Vessels are coming: container transportation along the Caspian Sea is planned to increase from 2025
Vessels are coming: container transportation along the Caspian Sea is planned to increase from 2025
In 2025, container transportation along the North-South corridor through the Caspian Sea will start to increase. The first four special vessels are already being prepared for delivery. This route will help unload the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is 54% more profitable than road and railroad analogs through the Far East, "Izvestia" has learned. Cargo will go through the ports of Rostov and Astrakhan regions to the Iranian harbor of Bandar Abbas and back. The corridor will also become an alternative to the sea route through the Suez Canal. The time of cargo delivery through this shipping corridor will be reduced by one and a half times.
Containers will travel via the Caspian Sea
With the beginning of navigation in 2025 Russia will increase system container transportation along the corridor "river - sea" through the Caspian Sea. As "Izvestia" found out, it was stated by Evgeny Dietrich, General Director of the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC), at the meeting of the Council for the Development of the Transport Complex under the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation. This direction will take the flow of cargoes that do not have time to be exported through the railroads of the eastern direction.
Transportation via the Caspian Sea is 54% more economical compared to the Trans-Siberian, said the General Director of GTLC. Transportation infrastructure will be developed to increase the capacity of the corridor.
For cargo transportation, GTLC is creating a fleet of specialized vessels of the Volgo-Don Max class. The Lotos Shipyard in the Astrakhan Region plans to launch four container ships of Project 00108 by order of GTLC in 2025, and their number will reach 25 by 2030. The Volgo-Don Max class vessels are capable of carrying 429 TEU (equivalent volume of a 20-foot container) on the river and up to 531 TEU at sea.
The construction of four container ships of Project 00108, which have no analogues in Russia, is underway simultaneously, the press service of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) told Izvestia. The superstructure located in the bow allows to place 531 containers, including 72 refrigerated ones, which makes the project unique, the company noted.
Vadim Filatov, president of the AvtoGruzEx Association, told Izvestia that the Caspian route is part of the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC) and allows reducing the delivery time between Russia and South Asian countries by 10-50%. The connection with China via Iran and the Indian Ocean is more relevant for the organization of multimodal deliveries to Russia from the Persian Gulf countries and India. The transportation corridor will connect the railway and river systems with the seaport of Bandar Abbas in the south of Iran. Cargo can then be transported to India or China by ocean-going vessels.
- " Transportation of containers through the Caspian Sea becomes an alternative to the sea route through the Suez Canal," Viktor Deryabkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport and Transport Infrastructure Development, told Izvestia.
Caspian Sea
Ittakes about 30-45 days for a container from India to reach Russia via the Suez Canal, while the North-South corridor will reduce the period to 18-30 days, the deputy said.
According to RZD Logistics, the Volga-Caspian Sea Shipping Canal is already being dredged, the Sviyazh Logistics Center in Tatarstan has been built, and the port infrastructure in Rostov-on-Don is being modernized.
- Today, a number of projects are being implemented to modernize the transport and logistics infrastructure in regions with access to the Caspian Sea, in particular, in the Astrakhan Region. The region has set a course to expand the network of cargo terminals, including for handling perishable goods, which is especially important in the conditions of growing exports of agricultural products via the North-South ITC," Dmitry Kryukov, Deputy General Director for Multimodal Transportation of the company, told Izvestia.
If the river and canal beds are deepened to 12-16 meters along the entire route, the vessels can be loaded 30% more, said Chairman of the SF Committee on Economic Policy Andrei Kutepov at the meeting.
Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the Government, also spoke at the "Transport Week - 2024"about the plans to reconstruct hydroelectric facilities on the Volga and Don rivers, deepen river beds, andput navigable structures in order by 2030.
- One of the advantages of the Caspian Sea route to the Russian Federation is that there are no restrictions on transportation of sanctioned cargoes of groups 84 and 85 (special equipment and mechanical devices, electrical machines, etc.)," Alexander Yurishchev, operating director of ILC, told Izvestia.
According to the State Duma Committee on Transport, the volume of investments in the development of transport infrastructure of the North-South corridor until 2030 will amount to about 280 billion rubles.
According to Andrei Kutepov, by 2030 in the direction of ITC North - South, the increase in freight turnover by rail will be 150% (from 8 to 20 million tons), in ports - by 28% (from 19 to 24.3 million tons).
"Izvestia" sent inquiries to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction.
Three branches of the route to Iran
According to the information of the Ministry of Transport presented at the "Transport Week - 2024", in addition to the sea direction of the North-South ITC, two overland branches leading to Iran will be developed. The western one passes through the city of Resht and provides for the transportation of goods by road, while the eastern one relies on the railroads of three Asian countries on the other side of the Caspian Sea - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
- So far, the eastern railroad route to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas through these countries is the fastest," Dmitry Kryukov said. - It is possible to meet the deadline from 12 to 16 days.
The long sea shoulder on the Caspian Sea determines a high dependence of delivery terms on weather conditions, and how fast it is, it is difficult to predict, said the market participant.
Themain ports for Caspian Sea transit are Astrakhan, Olya and Makhachkala, said Fedor Tokarev, national manager for intermodal transportation at Noytech Supply Chain Solutions. According to him, to increase the potential of the route it is necessary to build a specialized fleet (container ships, RO-RO vessels for wheeled vehicles), as well as deepening of riverbeds and ensuring year-round navigation in Astrakhan, including reducing the waiting time for icebreaker escort in winter.
It is also required to attract investments for the development of the Caspian ports of Astara, Enzeli, Caspian, Noushehr, Amirabad in the north of Iran, the carriers note.
The Caspian route by sea can also operate in winter months. According to AvtoGruzEx, during this period delivery time on the Caspian Sea increases due to frequent storms. Vessels can stand at the roadstead waiting for loading/unloading from one to several days.
According to logistics operator Noytech, the share of the Caspian basin in the cargo turnover of Russian ports in 2023 was less than 1%. However, after the implementation of modernization projects, we can expect a significant increase in cargo turnover volumes along the Trans-Caspian route through Iran, says Fyodor Tokarev.
Thevolume of Russian cargo transportation along all directions of the North-South corridor will grow from 17 to 30 million tons per year by 2030, recalled the State Duma Committee on Transport. For comparison, the technical capabilities of the Trans-Siberian Railway allow to transport up to 100 million tons of cargo per year, including international transit in containers, and together with the Baikal-Amur Mainline - about 150 million tons.
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