5.5 thousand containers at Transcontainer terminal

About 5.5 thousand containers with Russian imports from China have accumulated at the TransContainer terminal at the Zabaikalsk-Manchuria rail border crossing. Representatives of the company explained delays in the shipment of cargoes by problems at the Eastern polygon and increased demand. Russian Railways explained that the terminal in Zabaikalsk does not load containers on the platforms of other owners and does not use other available resources to prevent congestion at the terminal.

According to freight forwarders engaged in the delivery of imported containers from China to Russia, at the moment the average waiting period for the shipment of containers from Zabaikalsk is 14 to 16 days, and the situation is getting worse. A week ago, about 3 thousand loaded containers were idle at the terminal waiting for loading, and now this figure has reached 5.5 thousand units.

«Let's be frank: delays have occurred at the Manchuria-Zabaikalsk border before, but at the moment this problem is gaining momentum and one cannot ignore it.

Of course, in the current economic and political situation in the world, when talking about export and import supplies between China and Russia, we should not underestimate the difficulties that have arisen and should make every effort to establish the cargo flow and eliminate the causes of delays.

For us, the situation that has arisen is not an obstacle, but a new input in the task of organizing transportation, which we invariably solve successfully regardless of what conditions the current situation in the world adds, so we always remain flexible and offer the best solutions for our clients,”- says Anastasia Kuzminova, ACEX Operation department expert.

“Transcontainer confirmed that the utilization of the terminal in Zabaikalsk is “above average” due to the imbalance between imports and exports. “More imports come from China to Zabaikalsk than exports. There are a number of reasons for this, including the traditionally tense situation with access to the infrastructure of the Eastern polygon, high demand for destinations on the part of shippers, as well as switching part of the transit flows from China to Europe to land border crossings,” said a TransContainer representative. The company also added that a number of measures are being taken to reduce the number of container flows, in particular, they are attracting an additional fleet of rolling stock.

RZD calls the situation with containers at the Zabaikalsk-Manchuria border crossing “working”. The main reason for the failure to transport containers from the border terminal RZD considers not the shortage of platforms, but the fact that the terminal operator does not use platforms of “other owners”.

Also, the state rail carrier proposes to use gondola cars to export the growing imports from China, as is already done in the ports of the Far East. “A number of gondola car owners have already expressed readiness in providing a fleet for loading containers with imported cargo from Zabaikalsk station with further transloading onto fitting platforms en route,” Russian Railways reports.

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