Railion Russia

Russian Railways has formed a new joint venture with Deutsche Bahn AG, Railion Russia, to take advantage of growing bilateral transport volumes between Rus­sia and Germany and the renewed interest in the rail landbridge as a conduit for trade between Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

Railion Russia, which will be registered in Russia, will act as an intermediary with Belarusian and Polish railway operators to provide seamless services.

In a separate development, Russian Railways has called on Moscow to restrict the number of companies able to offer stevedoring services in Russia’s ports and to amend the existing Railway Transport Statute so that fines can be levied on seaports for railcar congestion.

According to Russian Railways first vice president Khasyarin Zyabirov, seaport operators and for­warders play international markets, holding up exports in search of a better price. This clogs up port warehouses and open storage areas and the wagons are left unloaded.

Sometimes the storage facili­ties are not used at all as the steve­dores prefer direct ship-to-rail transfers to minimise their costs. In such cases the railcars are liter­ally used as warehouses. The marked increase in FOB ship­ments in the past few years has also exacerbated the problems.

• Finnish logistics services pro­vider John Nurminen Oy has signed an agreement to buy a 49 per cent stake in Irtrans, a pri­vately-owned rail operator based in Saint Petersburg.