Russian Government to encourage container turnover through marine ports

Russia's Federal Customs Service is planning to limit seafood importation in containers via land-based motor car checkpoints at the EU border by means of introducing special quotas. The idea is to encourage a rise of turnover of the Russian ports and raise profit of Russian cargo operators and forwarders, reports www.fishnet-russia.com (www.fishnet.ru) with reference to DP.

The Federal Customs Service has introduced a draft of the corresponding government order for consideration by interested departments.

The draft seeks to ban unregulated importation of cargoes in containers via motor car check points located at the border with Finland, Estonia, Latvia and the Ukraine. Such importation via the border check points would be allowed only out of special quotas defined under the international agreements. Besides, the Russian Federal Customs Service has published a list of ports and railway check points via which traders are allowed to ship in 20-feet containers on the above mentioned border check points. The list includes 13 check points (4 at the border with Finland, 2 at the border with Estonia, 2 at the border with Latvia and 5 at the border with the Ukraine) and 21 ports.

In the explanatory note to the draft order the Customs Service says that large import volumes are shipped to Russia in containers by marine transport to the ports of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and the Ukraine. Containers are then transshipped to trucks to be further brought to the territory of Russia. This fact has caused queues of trucks at the border check points. For instance, at the check point of Torfyanovka at the Russian border with Finland container trucks amount to 38% of the truck fleet.

Therefore the Federal Customs Service thinks importation of containers will increase load of the Russian ports, create additional jobs, raise profits of the Russian cargo operators and forwarders, reduce traffic on motor roads, decrease the negative impact of motor transport on environment and increase tax disbursements to the budget system.