Vietnam – Russia rail transport on track for new era

Hanoi (VNA) – According to Sputniknews, freight transport by rail between Vietnam and Russia is turning a new page to once again take the top place given the emerging geopolitical context in recent years.

Since 2018, the Russian Railways (RZD) Logistics has cooperated with Vietnamese logistics operator Ratraco to run freight services along the countries’ road transport corridor.

This service meets the needs of Russian and Vietnamese importers and exporters.

Goods from Russia to Vietnam and vice versa are transported through the MTC rail transport corridor between a station in Moscow, and Yen Vien station in Hanoi. From the stations, goods are transported overland to stores. The average time of transport between the two stations is 24 days.

Tea, coffee, spices, canned goods, footwear and clothes, candy and chocolate, cosmetics, construction materials, and polymer products are being transported along the two-way transport corridor.

According to experts from RZD Logistics, the demand of customers transporting goods along the railway corridor has exceeded the supply capacity of this service.

This year, another leading Russian firm in Asia-Europe rail logistics TransContainer has also formed linkages for operating a transport corridor.

TransContainer is the leading intermodal container transportation firm in Russia, which operates the biggest fleet of containers and freight wagons in the country.

Its rich experience in managing the freight transportation on over 300,000 routes in Russia and abroad enables TransContainer to transport containers to any area in Russia, the Countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe and Asia.

Nikita Pushkarev, TransContainer's director of sales and after-sales service, said that in the first phase of the operation, items such as tea, coffee, spices, shoes and clothing will be transported from Hanoi through China to Russia for sale in the Russian retail network.

The transport of goods in the territory of Vietnam and China will be performed by TCFF – the subsidiary of TransContainer.

Compared to the sea route, the rail corridor offers deliveries in 5-8 days faster at optimal costs.

In addition, the shipments are handled within the framework of a unified legal regime, because Vietnam, China and Russia are members of an international rail freight agreement, he said.

It will take about 35 days to transport goods on the over-10,000-km route from Hanoi to the Elektroygli station in the outskirts of Moscow.

TransContainer provides its own equipment, and service for storing goods in warehouses in Vietnam and packing goods in containers, and customs clearance and international insurance services.

Goods will be transported from Vietnam to China in batches of 12 containers each, then gathered in China’s territory and sent to Russia by trains.

Pushkarev unveiled that at least two container trains are expected to run on the route per month, while parties involved are studying solutions to regularly bring Russian export shipments of grain, timber, and non-dangerous chemicals to Vietnam.

Vietnam is a key trade partner of Russia in Southeast Asia. The two-way trade between the two countries in 2021 hit 7.14 billion USD, up 25.9% year-on-year.

International railway freight transport service posted positive growth last year, according to the Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR).

Statistics of VNR show nearly 1.16 million tonnes of goods were transported abroad by trains in 2021, surging 34% compared to the same period last year.
The railway sector will shift to freight transport in the coming time to compensate for the decline in passenger transport, focusing on promoting international transportation between Vietnam and China, and to third countries such as Russia and those in Europe and Central Asia.

Last year, VNR launched a direct railway route from Vietnam to Belgium, and trains transporting containers to cities in China./.