Russian Post and China Post have started rail transportation of international postal shipmentsfrom China to Russia to simplify cross-border flows between the two countries.
Until now, international shipments have been delivered to Russia only by air and by road. Incontrast, rail transportation not only makes it possible to reduce transportation costs but also toexclude additional cargo operations and intermediaries from the supply chain.
The first container with mail from Harbin in northeastern China arrived in Moscow on 15 January.The container was then reloaded to delivery vehicles carrying the cargo to the capital’sinternational postal exchange office.
The rail transportation will be provided by Russian Railway Logistics using the Trans-SiberianRailway. In addition, Russian Railway Logistics provides a full range of related services includingcustoms clearance of transportation documents and customs transit, reloading of the container fromChinese to Russian railways as well as delivery via vehicles from the station of arrival to theinternational postal exchange office as the final destination.
The plan is part of the cooperation agreement between the railway operators of the two countriessigned in May 2014. Prior to this agreement, the two postal operators already signed a Memorandumof Understanding in October 2013 during the official visit of Russian Prime Minister DmitryMedvedev to China. The Memorandum aims at extending delivery routes for shipment flows from Chinato Russia.
“The agreements on development and introduction of new transport solutions for the delivery ofpostal items from China to Russia was reached in October 2013 during a meeting of Russian PrimeMinister Dmitry Medvedev and the Premier of the State Council of China, Li Keqiang,” Jan Ronglin,Deputy General Director China Post, confirmed. “China Post is cooperating with Russian Post in thisdirection. Delivery of postal shipments by rail has become another important stage of our commonwork.”
“We are implementing rail transports of postal shipments from China as part of our strategy todiversify logistics and improve delivery times,” Alexey Skatin, Deputy General Director RussianPost, Logistics, said. “The Russian Federal Customs Service is actively contributing to the projectrealisation.”
Looking ahead, the two postal operators plan to transport shipments not only on the railway fromHarbin but also from other Chinese cities. Besides Moscow, delivery will be made to Novosibirsk,Yekaterinburg and Kazan (after opening a logistics centre there). Technology also makes it possibleto organise a similar service for other countries, Russian Post stressed.
