Growth in Demand for Freight Trucking

The number of requests for freight transportation from China to Russia by road has recently surged. SeaNews spoke with Ksenia Chernikova, CEO of the logistics company TransGID, to discuss the factors pushing clients to shift from rail to road transport. "In recent months, we've noticed that road transport from China has become increasingly in demand. According to our observations, incoming cargo flow through the Far Eastern road checkpoints increased by approximately 15% in September compared to last year. This shift is quite understandable: imports from Asian countries have significantly exceeded exports, leading to a shortage of fitting platforms and overloaded sea terminals. Our estimates show that waiting times at the port anchorage have more than doubled in recent months. The railway in the Far East is also overloaded, and as we see it, the situation is unlikely to improve soon. The capacity of the BAM and Trans-Siberian railways remains stretched to the limit, especially with the upcoming New Year when delivery demand traditionally spikes. We've been monitoring market changes for a while and decided to strengthen our road transport direction at the beginning of the year—a move that proved to be the right one. We are now receiving more and more requests for direct truck deliveries from China. Road transportation allows us to ensure more precise delivery times, and importantly, it has become more reliable thanks to the modernization of key border checkpoints. For instance, about 40% of all freight trucks now pass through the Zabaikalsk checkpoint, where capacity has nearly doubled following its modernization. It now operates 24/7, allowing faster cargo clearance across the border and servicing up to 300 vehicles daily—an enormous improvement from just 1.5 years ago. Additionally, crossings like Pogranichny-Suifenhe and the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge have also been modernized, significantly speeding up the flow of goods. We are confident that the trend toward increased road transportation will continue in the coming years."