International trade has exceeded the growth of global GDP and the development of trade across borders is supported by the optimisation of transport and IT segment, cost reduction and transparency improvement. For Europe, developing markets are moving to the east and south, thus also increasing the distances of freight transport.
“The evolution of the eastern market is characterised by an intense industrial activity in Russia and in western China, the increase of domestic consumption which made the emergence of new markets in Russia, China and Central Asia possible, foreign direct investments have increased their share especially in the
Wider Black Sea Area (WBSA) and the exploitation of natural resources is in constant growth. In this context, these elements are the main factors for railway development”, declared Ivan Petrov, Chairman – CLECAT Rail Transport Institute / Vice President – The Bulgarian National Forwarders Association (NSBS), during the Railway Days – Railway Investment Summit in Wider Black Sea Area.
The freight volume between Europe and Asia carried by sea amounts to 15 million TEUs and estimates show an increase which proves the high potential of multimodal transport development. “There are at least two premises believed to be important for the development of the business environment in this segment: the existence and development of traffic flows between Europe and the Moscow Region, but also on the corridors from Russia to Central Asia – China and Kazakhstan. Competitiveness has also a say: railway transport is the most competitive because, for customers, time, price and safety are key elements when selecting a long-distance transport mode: there is significant interest in the Eurasian railway market, but we also need products that would ensure multimodal traffic and partners to get involved”, explained Petrov.
Compared to maritime transport, railway transport delivers the most efficient travel time solution – the transit time between the two continents is 3 weeks, compared to 4-6 weeks by sea, but also the best frequency and transport reliability solutions. However, railway transport means higher costs. “Railway transport has 20-30% higher costs than maritime transport, but freight transit time is by 30 days faster than maritime transport. Railway transport competitiveness can be significantly improved if the costs of maritime transport increase, thus inevitably eliminating the gap between the two modes and also a massive additional capacity of maritime freight volumes will be confronted with new challenges imposed by direct competitiveness”, explained Petrov.
On the long term, the trends of maritime and railway transport prices will also be almost the same due to high energy costs and additional costs. Also, trends will focus on reducing the railway transport transit time due to infrastructure, technological deve-lopment and consolidation of cooperation between market players and institutions.
For an efficient and seamless transport that would provide solutions to freight mobility demands and requirements, “interoperability is the answer to all problems. Thus, it is necessary to continue developing ports and railway connections in hinterland allowing transport volumes in WBSA to grow. Also, all European corridors providing connection from Europe to Asia and Middle East have to be upgraded. However, a real interoperability between continents and transport modes is also necessary. Multimodality has to place railway transport in the core of activities to encourage sustainable development and to focus its activity on the other transport modes, besides railway transport”, added Petrov.
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