Business news

MOSCOW, 12 December (BelTA) – Belarusian Railways intends to reach 1 million containers in transportation between China and Europe per annum by 2025. The goal was mentioned by Belarusian Railways Head Vladimir Morozov during the roundtable session on Belarus’ transit potential for transporting Russian foreign trade cargoes in Moscow on 12 December, BelTA has learned.

According to Vladimir Morozov, this year Belarusian Railways will transport 320,000-330,000 containers on the way between China and Europe, 60% up from 2017.

Among problems troubling transit transportation the executive mentioned delays in handing over cargoes at Belarusian-Polish border checkpoints. Plans have been made to open another Belarusian-Polish border checkpoint for trains next year in order to resolve the problem.

Speaking about Belarusian Railways rates, Vladimir Morozov noted that the policy will stay stable in 2019: the basic rates on freight transportation will not change. Discounts for some commodity groups may be adjusted by 2-3%. “Prices should be fair. In no way should they impede or change the flow of freight,” he said.

Following the established tradition, Belarusian Railways in association with the Embassy of Belarus in Russia arranges a roundtable session in Moscow at the end of the year to highlight the development of Belarusian Railways’ transit potential. The main goal of this year’s event was to secure more freight traffic for transporting between Belarus and Russia, reveal the company’s pricing policy for the next year, demonstrate Belarus’ transit potential for transporting Russian exports and imports, and present capabilities of the Belarusian Railways company Belintertrans – Transport-Logistics Center. Representatives of the railway administrations of Russia, Latvia, and Lithuania, branches of Russian Railways, the united transport and logistics company Eurasian Rail Alliance (UTLC ERA), and Russian consignors took part in the roundtable session.