Business news

MINSK, 1 October (BelTA) – Events of the first stage of the process meant to establish the United Transport and Logistics Company of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan (UTLC) are about to end on schedule. Belarusian First Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Yevgeny Rogachev made the statement during the online conference hosted by the BelTA website on 1 October.

According to the source, Belarusian Railways has contributed RUB32.7 million to the authorized fund of the company to be established. “We expect that in the near future the Kazakh side will transfer its monetary contribution and honor its commitments,” noted the official.

Yevgeny Rogachev pointed out that the so-called consolidated business system of the UTLC group of companies is being created now. “The operational model for the group has been approved. Participants of the project now have general understanding of how the system will operate, how the authority and competence will be distributed. In essence the basic rules that all the companies of the UTLC group will follow in their working with clients have been adopted,” explained the representative of the Belarusian Transport and Communications Ministry.

Asked about the benefits Belarus has gained by joining the project, the official said it was too early to talk about that. “It is worth waiting for the annual performance report. When we were evaluating the business plan, we were positive about the project. We hope it will bring good results to Belarus,” he said.

In spring 2015 Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin stated that UTLC services are in demand. In his words, the first contract has been signed with the world’s top logistic company DHL.

According to Yevgeny Rogachev, UTLC President Piotr Baskakov intends to take part in events of the Belarusian Transport Week that will take place in Minsk on 6-8 October.

The national railway operators of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus signed the agreement on setting up the United Transport and Logistics Company (UTLC) in June 2013. The public joint-stock company (OAO) United Transport and Logistics Company was registered by the universal state registry of corporations in Moscow on 13 November 2014. The charter capital of the new company was RUB39.7 billion. UTLC is expected to take care of transporting cargoes in containers in the Single Economic Space, including in transit between Europe and Asia. In accordance with the business plan the UTLC’s overall freight turnover is supposed to exceed 4 million TEU (in 20-feet container terms) by 2020.

Thanks to the project’s implementation Belarus intends to increase transit container traffic by 4.5 times. Container processing by the railway station Brest North is supposed to rise by 6.8 times. About $25 million will be invested in the development of the terminal and warehouse infrastructure.