Meeting of the Expert Council on the forest complex: development and logistics
The 19th Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum is being held in Krasnoyarsk from 1 to 3 March. Today, within its framework, an expanded meeting of the Expert Advisory Council on the forest complex under the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian Food Policy and Nature Management was held. Moderator of the round table “Development of the forest complex of Siberia. Logistics in the new economic realities” Tatyana Gigel, Senator and Chairman of the Council, spoke. The Russian Forest Association was represented by its vice-president Vladimir Ponomarev.
Key points from today's meeting:
- the problem of providing rolling stock for the export transportation of timber cargo and ways to solve it;
- opportunities to redistribute logistics flows to new markets;
- financial, regulatory and organizational support for export logistics for the timber industry.
At the moment, temporary rules for determining the order of cargo transportation are in effect - this document suspended the procedure for non-discriminatory access of the timber business to the railway infrastructure. Timber industry representatives note that in order to support the industry, it is necessary to move timber cargo from the seventh to the fifth category of the order of cargo transportation.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with the Ministry of Transport of Russia, has worked out changes to temporary rules so that timber cargoes receive priority for transportation by rail. However, Russian Railways came up with a counter-proposal to give priority only to timber products that are shipped as part of container trains in the export direction, and to shippers with their own production facilities for wood processing or a timber resource base.
Olga Kalyuzhnaya, President of the Russian Forest Association: “When making a decision, one should pay attention to the fact that the main volume of timber exported is by wagon load, not by container load. At the same time, enterprises with their own production capacities for wood processing more often use the services of forwarding companies, which carry out the bulk of the transportation of goods, but do not have their own production facilities or a timber base, that is, again, they do not fall under the requirements of Russian Railways. .
An additional mechanism to reduce the load on the railway could be an increase in the export of timber by road. In this regard, it seems appropriate to make appropriate changes to the Rules for the carriage of goods by road.
According to the results of the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport, Russian Railways and members of the Expert Advisory Council came to a common position regarding the prioritization of the transportation of timber cargo. Within 5 days, the relevant resolution will be signed, it will be submitted to work at the federal level.
