vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #591 / Business / Reading article...

Mitsui & Co, Japan’s second biggest trading company, concluded in mid October a cooperation agreement with Russian Railways and Russkaya Troika to launch a Trans-Siberian freight service, a press statement from Russian Railways said.

According to the agreement reached on October 18, Mitsui will provide cargos and will seek an attract clients in Japan as well as other countries of the Pacific Rim region, while Russkaya Troika together with Russian Railways will organize freight transportation of cargos destined for Russia, CIS and European countries by the Trans-Siberian railway.

The agreement was signed in Moscow by Russian Railway’s Chief Vice President Boris Lapidus, Executive Director and Executive Vice President of Mitsui & Co. Toshihiro Soejima and General Director of Russkaya Troika Vladimir Chisnakov.

According to Lapidus, railway freight transportation of cargoes from Japan to Russia is more advantageous compared to sea shipping, with cargoes railed to Russia’s western part within 18 days as opposed to shipping which takes 45 days.

Lapidus also expressed hope that freight traffic between Russia and Japan will increase due to the two countries’ growing commodity turnover and production.

Currently, negotiations are being held with Japan’s Toyota to transport by the Trans-Siberian railroad automobile components to St. Petersburg, where a Toyota’s assembly plant is to be put into operation.

Meanwhile China in mid October officially opened a sea route linking its landlocked northeastern province of Heilongjiang with its eastern coastal hub of Shanghai after it reached an agreement with Russia to use its port of Vladivostok.

The route through the Sea of Japan has been in trial operation since March and received final approval from China Customs, Chinese news reports said.

The first shipment amounting to 261 tons of paper reached Shanghai after starting from China's border city of Suifenhe in Heilongjiang and being transported via Vladivostok. The shipment cost was ten percent less than it would have cost to transport it by land, officials with the Suifenhe Port Commission revealed to reporters.

China is also involved in discussions with Russia and Japan to establish a cargo route between Heilongjiang and Japan's port of Niigata, which would halve the distance and shipment time.