ATC Consolidated Cargoes Delivery –2021 Outcomes
The year 2021 was challenging for the logistics industry. We have discussed these challenges, the progress made during 2021 and plans for 2022 with the head of consolidated cargoes delivery department of ATC China Oleg Slugin.
— Oleg, please, tell us about your work in 2021.
We are pleased to sum up the outcomes of the year past, which will be remembered not only for new challenges, overcoming unavoidable difficulties and solving non-routing problems, but as we already see, for strategically used opportunities providing a steppingstone for the future.
Last year, our offer for the delivery of consolidated cargoes from China was based on switching from a combined carriage by sea and rail to a direct rail transportation. We further consolidate cargoes in our Shanghai warehouse on a weekly basis, properly prepare packaging, labelling and export documents, but now loaded containers are transferred for further carriage by express trains without any additional trans-shipment procedures. Normally, a sealed container is opened after the shipment only upon its delivery to the temporary storage warehouse in Moscow region, which advantageously distinguishes this mode of transport from multimodal transportation through the sea ports involving several modes of transport.
— What makes your product special?
Our route is special due to the delivery of consolidated cargoes directly to the temporary storage warehouse in Moscow region, and a prompt movement of cargoes thereto from the railway station upon arrival, which takes roughly 3-5 days, and upon which the cargo can be delivered on the day it is released by the customs. By contrast, the vast majority of carriers do not have customs warehouses in Moscow for a proper cargoes deconsolidation. It prolongs transportation times as recipients have to wait for a collective release of all shipments in a container.
Of particular note is the arrival station for our cargoes – a Beliy Rast terminal placed 70 km away from Moscow. It is not as busy as the most popular railway hubs in Moscow region, has a new infrastructure and sufficient capacities, which result in rare cases of delays during the trains reception and unloading procedure.
— What outcomes have you achieved by the year end?
РThe results of our work are confirmed by the figures. We have doubled our earnings, while maintaining quite competitive rates during the last year. The main driver was a good offer for railway carriage compared to maritime routes – e.g. an average travel time reduced almost twice from 60 to 35 days. As a result, our clients base and the volume of carried cargoes have increase by one quarter. An emerging trend towards shipping even larger batches by less-than-container-load service is worth of mentioning individually. In our case an average shipment volume has increased from 4.90 to 5.50 m³.
— Please, tell us about your plans for the year 2022.
A further strengthening of market positions in the sphere of consolidated and container transportation from China is a priority for us.
Today, the projected delivery time is the main aspect allowing our clients to build up a smooth logistics. On this basis we have transformed our route network in the year past and will continue to form new directions in 2022. It is obvious that today railway transport is the most stable and balanced in terms of pricing delivery method. We have completely transferred our cargo traffic from maritime to railway routes and have built a convenient and largely unique system of consolidated cargoes delivery from China to their recipients in Russia.
In the new year, the shortage of air freight capacities and the resulting high rates will continue to encourage cargo owners to look for alternative modes of delivery. We do not anticipate a reduction in extremely high sea freight rates for at least the first half of the year, and we are quite realistic about the Covid-related risks that could hamper international road transport, and we plan to focus on the development of rail transportation. The options we offer will be a top choice and in the meantime a perfect opportunity for us to transform the trust of our clients into the development of directions that are important for us.
