Special representative of the President of Russia Sergey Ivanov declared that the Russian dry fertilizers soon to export through Ust-Luga rather than through the Baltic States. In speech, Ivanov an important emphasis not only on the reorientation of the transit to Russian ports, but also on departure from the ports of the Baltic States. Once proclaimed the course for the rejection of strategic cooperation in logistics with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will not be reviewed.
“EuroChem is now building a huge new terminal at the Russian port of Ust-Luga. After a short time all the dry fertilizers, which are produced by EuroChem and Uralkali, Acron and others, for the first time will be exported via the Russian port, not through the Baltic ports”, — said special representative of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on issues of environmental activities, environment and transport Minister Sergei Ivanov, speaking at the St. Petersburg international economic forum (SPIEF).
This is the forum, which this year asked the Minister of economic Affairs and infrastructure of Estonia, Taavi AAS. Directly the Minister outlined a range of topics that are of interest in SPIEF Estonian side. In the first place — the return transit!
Attraction of additional transit cargo — that is the key theme that Taavi AAS wanted to discuss in St. Petersburg with the Russian transport Minister Eugene Dietrich.
And discussed.
Not to say that the outcome of this meeting was to Tallinn quite unsatisfactory. Dietrich and AAS have agreed on the resumption of Estonian-Russian transport Committee. Tallinn is waiting for this Commission for the revival of the former transit volumes.
In Estonia “is enough available capacity on the railway and in ports for fast and qualitative processing of cargoes”, — said the Minister of economy on the state of the Estonian transit industry and was frankly given to understand that Tallinn is not averse to once again see those power-filled Russian cargo.
However, Putin’s special envoy on the same St. Petersburg economic forum has once again confirmed that Russia’s decision about the refusal of transit through the Baltic States remains unchanged.
Sergei Ivanov said not only that the export of dry fertilizer will now go through Ust-Luga, but that he will be transferred there from the Baltic States. That is, along with economic was emphasized the political importance of the occurring process.
The problem of the Baltic States that once initiated the reorientation of the transit is not so easy to stop. This is a long term process, which when started, takes years, and the large investments in infrastructure are made at the initial stage, and this is even harder to turn it around.
If Russia had decided to build their own freight transportation infrastructure in the North-Western Federal district and to transfer the transit from the Baltic States, the rejection of strategic cooperation of Russia with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia final, and the diplomatic signals of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn on the readiness to “make friends” with the Russians in the economy is clearly useless.
To build a deep-water port Ust-Luga is not the same as to prohibit the entry into the Russian Federation a pair of triple Russophobes from Tallinn or Riga. The recent decision can be undone if the bilateral relations will become warmer and anti-Russian politicians will understand that they were wrong and change rhetoric (the case of the Latvian playwright Hermanis, who after a five-year ban was allowed entry to Russia is proof).
How to cancel Ust-Luga? Or Vysotsk? Or new tracks? To stop construction in full swing, because the Baltic States gives signals to normalize relations? To fire people and leave the dug-up pits, because the Minister of foreign Affairs of Latvia spoke about the interest in mutually beneficial relations with its Eastern neighbor, and the Minister of Economics of Estonia, came at the SPIEF?
The Baltic States finally gave up and recognized the futile hope that with these countries ever established normal relations, since Ust-Luga and other infrastructure actually being built.
Especially in the case of Ust-Luga speech not long ago about the pit. Construction of the port infrastructure is in the final phase, and reorientation of transit is already a few years.
Last year, the Russian exporter of fertilizers “Akron” moved the transit of its products to the Baltic to Russian ports. Then the company URALCHEM has announced plans to transfer its cargo of fertilizers from the port of Riga (where “URALCHEM” built for the handling of its own products separate terminal) at Ust-Luga once it is completed suitable for transporting dry fertilizer terminal.
The construction of such a terminal in Ust-Luga began on 1 June. According to plan it should be commissioned in 2022. Thus, the management of URALCHEM is considering other destinations in Russia to refocus their goods. In particular, the company expressed interest in building a deepwater port in the Kaliningrad region.
The version that a generous, resource-rich Russia will be enough to upload their transit capacity and still leave a trickle of traffic to the Baltic States, not provided: the business strictly adheres to the policy of 2016 that all Russian goods should be exported through Russia and not through Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia.
“We expect that when power are launched, they completely cover our needs for transshipment of dry cargoes. Currently we supply through the Baltic States is not more than 2 million tons of dry fertilizer a year,” — said General Director of URALCHEM Sergei Momtsemlidze.
To leave a little bit of transit to Riga is planned. As you do not plan to return the transit in Ventspils or again, to bestow the orders of the Tallinn port.
The recent attempts of the Baltic leaders to show interest in economic relations with Russia and bring it all back funny how attempts late passenger to jump on the leaving train and get him to turn around.
The train left and the Baltic States he was late.
© 2019, paradox. All rights reserved.
