To give you a statistic, over the past five years, cargo turnover at Vladivostok’s customs has quadrupled. <...> We can see that logistics flows have changed course and moved to ports in the East — Vladimir Ivin, Deputy Head, Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

Where you have parallel imports, you also get parallel logistics. And the directions we previously considered to be key have already ceased to be so — Aleksey Shilo, Deputy Managing Director, Head, Centre for Corporate Transport Services (CFTO), Russian Railways.

We [the Commercial Port of Vladivostok – ed.] are a multifunctional port. We process general cargo, coal, and metals. Today, the market for our exporters has narrowed to Asia. Unfortunately, exports have fallen, while the situation around imports has been somewhat fraught these past summer months. Work had to be done to address a lack of containers and vessels. Currently... the port is at 130% capacity – we have a record number of containers in the port, which are stacked 5–6 high. Usually they are stacked 3–4 high. We’re somehow managing for now — Arkady Korostelev, President, Chairman of the Management Board, FESCO.

We see there being a risk of there being a situation similar to what happened last year, when there was not enough capacity, and ships were anchored for several days waiting to be unloaded. But what’s more, we see there being a risk of collapse, given the trend for shifting logistics from central and western regions. That’s because we do not have unlimited port capacity. Even today, two of the five container sites are at 102–103% capacity. In literally another 2–3 weeks we will very much be at a critical point — Vladimir Ivin, Deputy Head, Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

After fairly low [figures – ed.] for July, we saw a surge of imports in August. The reason for this was clear – Chinese ports reopened after the lockdown. On top of this, there is already a certain amount of accumulated demand. We think that September and October will be fairly challenging months in terms of handling these volumes. That said, we know what needs to be done to cope with it. <...> True, they are mainly geared towards coal. Virtually 78% of all terminals are designed to handle coal exclusively. We don’t have enough – the capacity is not there in the East, and we need it to ship fertilizer, for example, and grain. And overall, we can see that capacity may even have to be increased when it comes to wider categories of goods and high value-added products — Aleksey Shilo, Deputy Managing Director, Head, Centre for Corporate Transport Services (CFTO), Russian Railways.

We have not yet started operations, but we are already encountering problems related to delivering materials to our site. <...> As things stand, there is an overall capacity shortfall of more than 70 million tonnes. And according to the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, it will grow severalfold — Yerkozha Akylbek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Udokan Copper.

There are issues surrounding infrastructure, but this is a matter of planning. I am confident that these issues will not only be resolved for the medium term, but for the long term as well. The Russian leadership is paying a great deal of attention today to the development of infrastructure, and particularly transport infrastructure — Le Truong Son, President, Vietnam Businessmen's Association.

It would possibly be worth employing dry port technology [the use of a land transport and logistics terminal offering a direct connection to a seaport through specially organized transport infrastructure for the purposes of processing goods and customs clearance – ed.]. In addition, it would be worth looking at ways of reducing the time containers stay in ports. These measures would lead to an increase in container turnaround and boost port capacity — Vladimir Ivin, Deputy Head, Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

We could employ alternative methods of loading containers. <...> There are simple schemes for loading and transporting containers in open trucks, so we’ll definitely find the rolling stock needed to transport the entire volume of imported cargo — Aleksey Shilo, Deputy Managing Director, Head, Centre for Corporate Transport Services (CFTO), Russian Railways.

Digitalizing documentation is key to expediting processes. <...> When China implemented digitalization, the processing time was reduced from 12 hours to half an hour. I would imagine this is also possible on our scale. The digitalization of the transport industry is what’s important here — Yerkozha Akylbek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Udokan Copper.

We are working on fully digitalizing rail cargo transportation — Aleksey Shilo, Deputy Managing Director, Head, Centre for Corporate Transport Services (CFTO), Russian Railways.

We are particularly interested in making cross-border cargo shipments more efficient and to fulfil the beautiful task of digitalization. This means using electronic seals and smart containers, i.e., equipping containers with navigation and communication devices. This would ensure that information and documents which are already being digitalized are reliably stored. It would also mean that containers, cargo, and transportation parameters could be monitored — Igor Milashevsky, Chief Executive Officer, GLONASS.

GLONASS smart seals will enable us to ensure control over delivery and transit without any additional procedures. [They will mean that information would be recorded in digital form – ed.]. This information will cover both the goods themselves, and permits, so at any stage of transportation inspectors can read the information from the seal and get confirmation that the cargo has passed control procedures. <...> We look forward to all procedures related to drafting documents being completed, and to the Eurasian Commission taking the decisions needed to launch this process — Vladimir Ivin, Deputy Head, Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.