32


Issue 1 2013


///RUSSIA/EASTERN EUROPE Russia joins Europe


Mikhail Kholyavenko, managing director of Yusen Logistics Russia says that distribution into Russia is becoming closer to the European norm. The quality of trucking and logistics services is improving and customs clearance times are becoming faster and more predictable, even if they are not yet quite up to western levels. Kholyavenko explains: “While


you won’t find sophisticated distribution systems able to ship a pallet from anywhere to anywhere and less-than-truckload services still aren’t completely developed, it is possible to reach anywhere with a full truckload,” he explains. Retailers are increasingly demanding sophisticated logistics services with timed delivery slots and better-quality vehicles. With the introduction of the


new customs code about three years ago, customs clearance generally runs much more smoothly now and can oſten be achieved within 24 hours, compared with a typical time of 4-5 days a few years ago “It may not be up to west European standards, but for regular importers and reputable customers, it is much easier than it was seven or eight years ago,” Kholyavenko explains. The queues that were such a


feature of Russia’s land borders have receded. They still exist, but


they are not now all of Customs’ making. It has helped, says Kholyavenko, that there are many more direct shipping services from Europe into St Petersburg, which has taken a lot of pressure off the land borders. With the customs reforms, shippers are less apprehensive about customs clearance in St Petersburg – selling CIF to Finland and using the land crossing was oſten seen as more reliable in the past. Security worries have also


receded. Guards and convoys are still used but there are not necessarily any more incidents in Russia than in other places these days, Kholyavenko believes. There are though not so many


direct services from Asia to St Petersburg as ships in that trade don’t usually have the necessary ice-strengthening to allow them to operate in winter without tug assistance, although shipping into the far east ports or the Black Sea with rail or road transport thereaſter is another possibility for this trade flow. But geography and weather still


make Russia a tough environment to operate in. Yusen – the logistics arm of the global shipping and logistics NYK Group – does advise its customers to keep a few more days’ stock in their supply chain in the winter, for instance, to allow for


iced-up ports or other disruptions to transport, for example. There are also a few places that can be reached by rail, but not road, and of course the distances are vast. Yusen though is establishing its network in all the major port cities


including St Petersburg,


Novorossiysk and Nakhodka as well as Moscow. Yusen tends to use rail anyway for distances of over 1500km, but trucks are favoured for most loads within European Russia. Russia is still an inward-only


market as far as consumer goods are concerned, although with local production plants springing up, what gets imported is now likely to be components and materials rather than finished goods, at least in the automotive and electronic industries. There is also an appreciable movement of finished goods out of Russia to the customs union countries of Kazakhstan and Belarus. But a large proportion of


the raw materials that Russia exports are containerized now, he continues, in fact to the extent that “for some shipping lines, traffic volumes are in balance during certain periods of the year.” Russia


is also developing


some of the less welcome traits of the European logistics scene,


most notably road congestion. The Moscow city authorities are expected to implement a much- delayed decree banning the movement of larger trucks on the Moscow ring road during the day from March 2013 in a bid to reduce chronic traffic jams. Logistics firms will have to


adapt their strategies and either switch to smaller vehicles or reschedule to avoid truck movements during the affected period. Some firms may relocate their logistics activities away from Moscow but, as Kholyavenko points out, Moscow is still the country’s main point of consumption and hence still accounts for a large proportion of the country’s logistics activity. Ultimately, new roads could


help traffic bypass the Moscow area altogether – the country’s road geography still funnels much of the traffic via the city, including some that does not actually need or want to pass that way – but building these takes time. And, as Kholyavenko points out,


it doesn’t help that


Russia’s cities were not designed with the private car in mind, now that it has become the most dynamic motor market in


Europe. Indeed, much of Russia’s road


network still leaves a lot to be desired; a recent monumental traffic jam on the main Moscow- St Petersburg road that made the news headlines in the West recently may have been triggered by a sudden snowfall, but is ultimately the result of lack of capacity on a route that is still not up to full motorway standards over long stretches. Like other logisticians,


Kholyavenko has seen a slowdown in the economy in the past three months, though there is still growth year on year.


Consumer confidence has been hit – mostly by events outside Russia itself – but the economy is in good shape compared with other places, Kholyavenko notes. As he says, working in a still-


growing, dynamic market can be more exciting than grappling with slow or non-existent growth in stagnant economies in much of the rest of the world. Russia is becoming a ‘mainstream’ market now, he says. No longer a niche area, “now it really is becoming a major influence on many companies’ global performance,” he states. “It’s a much more core market.”


Chapman Freeborn adds eastern expertise


this year. They are Alexey Zuev as commercial director, whose career includes roles at Panalpina World Transport, DHL and Volga- Dnepr Airlines, and latterly as general manager for SkyLink Aviation in Russia. Working alongside Alexey is


Alexey Zuev


Air charter company Chapman Freeborn has made two senior appointments


at its new Moscow office opened earlier


Dmitri Kourenkov, who has been appointed as operations director. He joined Chapman Freeborn in 2008 and was flight operations manager in the United Arab Emirates where he helped to coordinate cargo airliſt projects from the company’s Sharjah base.


No winter freeze-up for us, claims Maersk


None of Maersk Line’s automotive clients had to stop production due to delays in cargo on account of the carrier during the winter of 2010/11, despite the worst ice in the Baltic for 20 years, says Maersk Line’s Russia managing director, Tom Hyldelund. “A lot of clients shipping with Maersk Line kept their factories running, simply because they could be assured of deliveries,” he explains. Congestion in the country’s ports


is inevitable as ice builds up and ships get blocked in the harbour, while snowstorms can lead to


delays in delivering or picking up containers. Maersk


puts its increased


flexibility during the winter down to its multiple terminal arrangements with the ports as well as preferential berthing and yard capacity (including, surprisingly, reefer plugs. The Danish operator


week in St Petersburg. During the winter of 2010/11,


also


says it enjoys preferential port authority support including availability of ice-breakers to give its ships quicker access to berthing windows. Maersk calls six times a


conditions in St Petersburg had reached critical status by March 2011, with over 180 vessels stuck waiting for ice-breaker assistance. Tom Hyldelund says: “Our aim is to protect the supply chain of our clients and ensure as little negative impact as possible because of the adverse weather conditions. Over the last three winters we have been more reliable in getting cargo delivered to Saint Petersburg than some of our competitors.”


The independent shipping and liner agency


Regular sailings from Hull Conventional fortnightly to Klaipeda Mobile Home/Conventional fortnightly to Gdansk Mobile Home/Conventional monthly to Szczecin and Riga


Seaway Logistics Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1482 338777


info@seawaylogistics.co.uk www.seawaylogistics.co.uk


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