The growth of loading in the Azov-Black Sea Basin is 3.3 percent

The reconstruction of the Tikhoretsky railway junction let increase cargo transportation to the Azov-Black Sea Basin and to more fully use the North-South transport corridor with a 54-pct increase over the past year, Oleg Belozerov, Russian Railways CEO – Chairman of the Executive Board, said at th meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting transcript is published on the official website of the Kremlin.

“We completed the reconstruction of the Tikhoretsky railway junction – it is towards the Azov-Black Sea Basin but it allowed us to more fully use the North-South transport corridor. In fact, this corridor saw a 54 percent increase over the past year,” said Oleg Belozerov adding that the growth comes from all directions. “If there is a connection, we go through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and reach Iran. The central line, including ferries, is busy in this respect. The Ministry of Transport is working hard on this,” he explained.

According to Oleg Belozerov, the growth of loading in the Azov-Black Sea Basin is 3.3 percent. “This is a very heavy balance. We increased transportation of passengers by almost 30 percent and managed to add a bit on the freight side,” said the head of Russian Railways.

He also reminded that the company transported 6.5 million containers in 2022. “We plan an interesting figure for ourselves to reach – to transport 7 million containers this year,” he said.

When speaking about exports, the head of Russian Railways told about the growth in the eastward direction. “Our general shipments are 96.7 million or plus 8 percent. That said, the Eastern Operating Domain accounts for exports of more than 50 million tonnes according to the control section. I would like to mention separately the serious monthly growth in shipments with China in the last few months. The restrictions were lifted, and after you signed documents with President Xi Jinping, we saw growth of 84 percent at the ports and border crossings. We had plus 45 percent at the border crossings,” he said.

Oleg Belozerov also emphasized that shipments with friendly countries grew by 68 percent while shipments with unfriendly countries sowed a 62-pct decline.