OJSC TransContainer’s General Director, Petr Baskakov, and the President of China Railway International Multimodal Transport Co., Ltd. (CRIMT), a subsidiary of China Railways, Chzhen Minli, have signed a memorandum in Beijing on their cooperation in international rail freight container transportation in the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.

As Petr Baskakov said after the signing ceremony, it is planned within the framework of the memorandum’s principal provisions to set up a joint venture located in Beijing. “The joint venture will be responsible for the development, marketing and sales of integrated container freight transportation services between China and Russia for companies engaged in international trade and industry, and for freight-forwarding companies and shipping companies,” Petr Baskakov claimed.

He added that in the near future, the parties intend to set up a joint working group to tackle the resolution of all the organisational issues connected to the creation of the joint venture. The joint venture is scheduled to commence work in the fourth quarter of 2008. “However, both we and the Chinese side first have to obtain the relevant permission from the antimonopoly and other state departments,” Petr Baskakov clarified.

The head of OJSC TransContainer also emphasised that the creation of the joint venture is the logical continuation of the company’s activities aimed at expanding rail transportation between Europe and Asia. “We have already acquired strong ties with European rail companies: a joint venture has been operating for over a year already with the Finnish Railways, and we are also participating in a joint project with OJSC RZhD and Deutsche Bahn. And now we will have a joint venture in Asia which, I am sure, will play a prominent role in the development of Eurasian transport routes,” Petr Baskakov said.

He further stated that within the framework of the joint venture’s creation, the parties intend to look into the expediency of the joint construction and operation of container terminals in Russia and China.

For Reference:

235,100 TEU of freight in large-tonnage containers was transported by rail between Russia and China in 2007, an increase of 48% over the figure for 2006. In the first quarter of 2008, transportation volumes reached 63,800 TEU, an increase over the figure for the same period of 2007 of 41%.

OJSC TRANSCONTAINER PRESS CENTRE