On November, 19 the V anniversary conference “HEAVY RUSSIA”, organized by “International Business Forum” (IBF), took place in Moscow.

This conference is the annual event which is becoming more and more popular with professional community year by year. Every time its audience is growing by 20%, and the geography of participants is booming. In 2013 the forum gathered over 340 delegates from 17 world countries: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Germany, Great Britain, USA, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

For the second time in five years of the conference history the General Sponsor title was taken by “Chandler GmbH” – the leading forwarder in the Russian and CIS project freight market. The event was also sponsored by such companies as “Rosgosstrakh”, “Instar Logistics”, “Spetspritsep” and “Volga-Dnepr”.

Traditionally, the most dramatic topic of discussion was the government regulation of the sector. This involves not only electronic procedure of getting permits for OOG transit, but also the issues of corruption in regulatory authorities, latest legislative initiatives, as well as the railway monopoly reform. The conference attendees could address their questions to the top managers of Ministry of Transport, Rosavtodor, State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs and JSC “RZD”.

Natalya Timofeeva, Chairperson of Oversize, Heavy and Hazardous Cargo Haulers’ Union, took the floor to say that all the recent documents passed in this sphere considerably aggravated the carriers’ status and increased the OOG permitting time. As she put it, permits are issued in time only to those intermediator firms which are somehow affiliated with licensing government officials which, in their turn, demand large sums above the prime cost. Another mentioned problem – is the issue of working with State Automobile Inspectorate. The point was made that today GIBDD personnel take a bribe of 200 RUR per 1 km if the heavy and oversize cargo is transported without any permits. The fare from Moscow to Saint-Petersburg for one vehicle amounts to 140000 RUR. Just imagine the annual figures for the whole country!!! At that, the country is experiencing great budget losses, because, first – the public service is not rendered in a proper way, and second – the roads are damaged and someone has to pay for this.

This very topic – complicated relations of carriers and State authorities – was highlighted by the following speakers. Thus, Andrey Praleska, President of Legion Cargo GmbH, proposed several options of how to optimize the development of permits, citing organization of this work in Germany as an example. On the other hand, Boris Kaportsev, General Manager of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, dwelled upon problems of getting permits for heavy-lift freight which touch upon ferry shipping.

We have established a good tradition to devote one session to implementation of large-scale projects of the outgoing year. Thus, Irina Koenig, Director of Chandler GmbH Hamburg Office, shared Company’s competence in international shipment of industrial cargoes and equipment in large lots. One of the examples – is delivery of the mining machinery from USA to Vorkuta. Altogether 66 units with a total weight of 166.509.00kg were transported. The operation took 119 days to complete, including all permits for the shipment and customs clearance.

General Director of “Instar Logistics” Alexander Shelkov imparted experience of delivering the equipment for CHPP “Polyarnaya”. The most critical stage of this operation was delivery of the 145t steam turbine generator. Haulage and unloading of the heavy lot took place under High North weather realities: at the last stage the cargoes were delivered in the most extreme winter conditions.

Vladimir Vyshemirsky, Head of Engineering and Logistics Center of “Volga-Dnepr” airlines, expanded on capabilities of special aircraft in project cargo delivery. Of particular interest to the audience was the presentation of a large-scale project on shipment of industrial equipment to Papua New Guinea with a large gas field being explored there. For 103 days – the project duration – An-124-100 “Ruslan” made 88 take-offs from the airport of Port Moresby and 88 landings on the air strip of the Komo high-level aerodrome – specially built for this project. Altogether more than 6000 tons of equipment for the gas-processing plant, built under ExxonMobil coordination, were delivered within the frame of this project.

“RZD” reorganization and privatization of special rolling stock provoked a hot discussion in the conference-hall. A lot of speakers underlined that this kind of service shall be controlled by the government to avoid any clash of interests. Another sore subject is aging of railway vehicles. No solution to this problem has been found yet, and the only way to keep the required quantity of rolling-stock – is its regular maintenance.

A specific place among the conference topics in 2013 was taken by working with Central Asia countries. Thanks to mineral pools and multiple development and processing projects, this region remains one of the most attractive for project forwarders. Meanwhile, this is the most “distressed” region of the former USSR, both in its geographical distance and in political respect. Vladimir Nekhvyadovich, General Director of Chandler GmbH, dwelled on all the challenges faced by companies which undertake delivery of cargoes to this region. Poor roads, lack of machinery, dry rivers, climate, regional conflicts, customs and other administrative obstacles, oriental mentality and bad communication – all these factors may pose a serious problem for implementation of large-scale projects. Particularly for those companies which do not put much thought into evaluation of all possible risks and circumstances of insuperable force.

Another feature of 2013 was water transport. Anton Maslov from NORTROP Company highlighted such a rare and complex subject as freight operations with “unstable” countries, like Iran and North Korea. These outcast countries are under the law of international sanctions and delivery of freight to their ports – is a tremendous challenge.

The following speakers shared experience of oversize river shipment. But while in Russia this type of transport is coming to a weakened state (rivers are getting shallow, almost no renovation of the fleet, ports are not upgraded), situation is completely different in Europe. EU transport policy, government and private investments make project river freight one of the key elements of the European logistics – with a respective level of service, safety and material status.

By request of the attendees of our previous conference, we have introduced a new topic – insurance of oversize and project freight. Solutions were provided by Oleg Sorokin, Deputy Director of Cargo Insurance Division of LLC “Rosgosstrakh” – the largest Russian transport insurance company. A follow-up on insurance topic was presented by General Director of “Globus-Consulting” – Arkady Fyodorov. He featured the need for serious surveyor’s supervision during fastening and shipping of cargoes. In his speech he analyzed the accidents with out-of-gauge lots in the last two years.

Not for the first time “HEAVY RUSSIA” event touched upon the latest technologies which make the life easier for the forwarders of super heavy loads. Companies “RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. KG”, “RUD LIFTING” and “Sevzapkanat” presented their solutions to difficult and special transport problems – using professional gear for cargo hoisting and securing. Of special interest to the delegates was reinforcing of bridge structures. “Sika Russia” shared their engineering expertise for this matter.

For further details on the conference feel free to contact our Organizing Committee at +79263772080 or e-mail: info@heavy.world