20


Issue 1 2012


///RUSSIA Red tape army in retreat – but


don’t mention the weather Bureaucracy is the universal foe of the freight industry and its customers in Russia – but there are signs of a new sense of realism in the Customs service and government generally. There are hopes too that the Russian economy will continue to jog along quite nicely and provide a counterpart to the doom and gloom further west. Even the country’s notorious cargo criminals seem to be on the back foot, at least for the moment. But as foreign invaders have found to their cost over the centuries, no one can do anything about the Russian winter.


Hellmann takes the direct approach


Hellmann Worldwide’s Russian traffic has grown so strongly that the freight and logistics operator has launched a UK hub at Basildon to provide a direct service to the region, instead of routing shipments via Frankfurt. The new hub will mainly serve the two main trading cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, although it will be possible to operate direct to other terminals as required. It will also serve other parts of Eastern Europe including Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltics. Many factors conspire to make


Russia a market like no other, explains commercial director, Matthew Marriott. “It is essentially a part-load rather than a groupage market. You can’t operate a normal groupage service because the trailer needs to physically travel to the associated customs terminal for each importer-customer.” Taking a truck on a tour of the literally dozens


“You need experts if you’re dealing with Russia” - Matthew Marriott


the regulations.” Russia is one of the those places where old-fashioned freight forwarding expertise comes to the fore. “It really is a special place,” says Marriott. He doubts whether Russian membership of the World Trade Organisation will sweep away centuries of red tape overnight. There are many other potential


pitfalls to watch out for. “Importers need to be registered and if you have an over-ambitious trader you might find that you just can’t clear the goods. So you need to check everything very carefully before departure. Even if the importer is registered, you also need to check that they are registered at the specific customs terminal that you’re heading for.” Needless to say, any delays to


of customs locations in Moscow alone would be too time-consuming for small loads, to say nothing of the problems that would ensue if there was a problem with clearing any one


consignment. “You also need experts if you’re


dealing with Russia,” Marriott adds. Hellmann has a team of people, not only in the UK but also on the ground


in Russia itself, who are best-placed to keep up to date with the frequent changes in regulations.“We’re in constant discussion with the Russian authorities about changes to


trailers add costs, reckoned at perhaps $300 a day and as Russian trade terms often state ‘arrival customs terminal’ it would be difficult for the UK exporter to pass these on to the importer. If clearance cannot be achieved, goods may well have to be offloaded and destroyed – only for the most valuable shipments is it worth contemplating the fearsome bureaucracy involved in exporting them back out of Russia to Europe. While Hellmann can offer a


service to any customs terminal in Russia, in practice most outlying cities would be served via St Petersburg and Moscow. Sending a trailer with a part-load into the interior is not cost-effective and in any case there are sales agents in the two cities that can act as a conduit for buyers in the rest of Russia, and take care of internal transport. The main exception would be large project shipments, which mostly would travel direct to destination. Some other parts of Russia can also be easily served by sea container. Even freight to Moscow is


expensive by European standards; typically £3,500 per trailer though rates do fluctuate widely – even from day to day in some cases. Despite the problems, trade to


Russia is growing says Marriott. The increase is mainly on the back of the country’s oil, gas and mineral wealth, which in turn has put money back in consumers’ pockets. There is no sign, so far at least, that the political protests over the conduct of the recent elections are affecting trade, and Marriott doubts that it ever would. “The Russians have been used to dealing with instability since time immemorial. They’re very resilient people.”


International Freight Forwarders • FCL/LCL - EU + Worldwide Services • Warehousing


• Road/Sea/Air/Breakbulk/Projects • Paperfree Trading • AEO Certified • Customs Brokers & EU Customs Compliance Specialists


Email: info@celticfwd.ie Web: www.celticfwd.ie Tel: 353-1-865 6000 Fax: 353-1-874 6745 Ofices - Dublin, Waterford, Drogheda


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