This bureaucratically complex procedure allows logisticians to maintain a preferential rate on freight for ships sailing between the Russian exclave and the Leningrad Region. In theory, the additional subsidy will increase cargo turnover: the regional government expects it to reach almost half a million tons by the end of this year.
There are prerequisites for this, because the sea route is a priority for modern Kaliningrad, especially given the difficulties with crossing the Russian-Lithuanian border. Interestingly, a subsidy of 1.8 billion rubles had already been agreed upon for the region for 2024. Rosmorrechflot distributed the received subsidies in April among 16 logistics companies operating on sea routes.Before this, freight carriers transported goods, essentially, on credit, expecting appropriate compensation from the state. However, the flow of goods increased so much that after the long-awaited launch of the subsidy program, its volume was “raked out” in almost three months. After this, the question of allocating additional funds from the federal budget reasonably arose.
The load on sea lines is, however, significant. Today, the Kaliningrad and Leningrad regions are connected by 28 ferries and dry cargo ships, and almost all of them are filled to capacity. For this reason, they are planning to modernize the railway-ferry complexes in two regions at once. According to rough estimates, this will cost 17 billion rubles. In addition, the country’s president supported the decision to begin construction of two additional ferries for the Kaliningrad region. The issue of the third vessel will be decided in 2026.
Meanwhile, businesses note that, despite the obvious advantages of the subsidy program, the mechanism for its implementation is still complex and not always clear. Thus, one of the federal logistics companies working in the Kaliningrad direction proposed dividing the money allocated from the federal center into two parts. The first could be distributed among all logisticians who applied for the competition, and the second – only among organizations that last year transported between the exclave and “big” Russia the volume of cargo corresponding to the competition application.
This maneuver will provide additional support to those companies that conscientiously fulfill their obligations for subsidized freight transportation, and at the same time reduce the number of logisticians who do not select the required volume.
Representatives of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of the Kaliningrad Region supplemented their colleagues. Experts note that the main problems of exclave maritime logistics are caused not by the subsidy mechanism, but by administrative decisions and a shortage of personnel.
– The situation with ferries is still unstable. Constant ship repairs and a shortage of workers in the port make this type of transport not the most attractive for most of our residents. Although, to be fair, putting a wagon on a ferry is much more profitable than transporting metal by truck to St. Petersburg and then reloading it into a dry cargo ship. We hope that the construction of new ferries will make this type of transportation more accessible for all categories of metalworkers, – emphasized the vice-president of the organization Oleg Chernov.
The expert added that due to the lack of people, the work of the port in Baltiysk has slumped. Loading there can take half a day. There are also problems with container ships: there are few of them in the Kaliningrad Region, and not all ships are ready to transport 20-foot containers “on their tail”. There have also been more frequent cases of disruption to the removal schedule, which is why sub-leased special equipment can stand idle in the port for hours.