Belarus increased shipments through Russian ports by 11% in the first quarter, Transport and Communications Minister Aliaksei Liakhnovich said in an interview with Belarusian television. According to him, the main volume of cargo passes through the ports of St. Petersburg.
“Yes, volumes are growing this year. We see that we have two agreements: one on the transshipment and transportation of petroleum products, and the second on the transshipment of certain types of cargo. We see that both agreements are working year after year, and we are growing. In the current quarter, if we speak about ports and exports to third countries, we grew by 11%. Today we ship through nine ports. But the main ports are the ports of St. Petersburg,” he said.
According to him, work is ongoing with Russian colleagues. The sides plan to agree on increasing transshipment volumes for this year.
“Growth requires infrastructure. Therefore, based on our volumes, the Russian side is developing infrastructure. But we must agree on the main volume for next year by December of the current year,” he said.
Liakhnovich expects the transport agreement with Oman to be ratified in the near future.
“In the near future, the agreement with Oman will be ratified on our side. Today, our cargo can reach Oman by two routes: either by sea, again through the port of St. Petersburg or Novorossiysk and then by sea to Oman, or by air transport. There will now be something of a middle category, because rail and sea are a cheap category, air transport is fast but expensive. And now something intermediate will appear so that it is convenient for our shippers,” he said.
According to him, the development of deliveries to China is continuing.
“If we speak about new services, I would note that there are a number of cargoes moving directly to China via a direct route. We are now creating a new service called ‘Kolosok’. We have already sent several trains. I would very much like these trains to move to a regular schedule. Moreover, we have calculated the cost of a pallet space in a container.
This will allow our shippers to send small batches of cargo to China. We have now tested this service with China, and then we will look at introducing it for other countries. But what does this provide? First, it provides an opportunity to enter the market of the country we are shipping to, and second, rail transport is still cheaper today than road transport. This will again create a certain competitiveness for our Belarusian producers,” the minister said.
