Russian plan to move container transport from highways to rails to be discussed during Putin visit

Russian PM arrives in Helsinki Wednesday

Vladimir Putin

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Russia’s plan to move the transport of goods containers entering the country onto the railways is expected to be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets his Finnish colleague Matti Vanhanen (Centre) in Helsinki on Wednesday.
      The Russian customs service, which is under the authority of Prime Minister Putin, has prepared a decree under which goods containers now entering Russia on lorries must either be transported across the Russian border by train, or be taken directly to Russian harbours.
      A large volume of Russia’s imports are carried by lorry through Finland.
     
Finland sees major logistical problems with the Russian plan. Expanded rail transport of containers would require changes in the rail networks of both countries, and at harbour freight terminals.
      According to Minister of Transport and Communications Anu Vehviläinen (Centre), Russia’s minister of Transport Igor Levitin expressed doubt last week that containers could be moved onto the rails very quickly.
      Vehviäinen feels that mobing the goods containers onto the rails might be a good idea - eventually. Russia made a sudden decision recently that lorries taking imported cars into Russia should not pass through the Vaalimaa border crossing. Vehviläinen is concerned about the example that such sudden decisions might set.
     
The Ministry of Transport and Communications says that the Russian customs service wants to specify in great detail what types of imports pass through which border crossing.
      Of the approximately 200,000 containers that pass through Finland to Russia each year, only about 9,000 are transported by rail. Vehviläinen says that forcing the containers onto trains very quickly would cause serious problems for Finnish exports to Russia, especially in refrigerated transport.
     
Finland hopes to persuade Rusia to take a clearer role in climate matters before the December climate conference in Copenhagen.
      The Russians are perhaps more interested in the environmental issues raised in connection with the Baltic Sea pipeline project.
      According to civil servant sources, the last time that the Finnish and Russian prime ministers met in Moscow in November, Putin “just talked and talked about the pipeline”.
      The sources also said that the Russians think that politicians in Finland are capable of speeding up the assessment of environmental impact.
      The assessment is scheduled to come out in early July, after which the government’s agreement to will be needed, as well as a building permit, under Finnish water legislation.
     
The Saimaa Canal lease agreement will not be signed during the visit, even though agreement was reached late last year on the main parts of the 50-year agreement. Deputy Minister of Transport Sergei Aristov will arrive to work on details of the agreement.
      The issues of border crossings, as well as forest matters, the Baltic Sea, and the economic crisis are to be discussed during the meeting.
      One issue that was not yet on the agenda on Monday was the child custody case in which a Finnish child was taken back to Finland in the car of a Finnish consular official.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Government wants better coordination of relations with Russia (16.4.2009)
  Putin checks on traffic at Finnish-Russian border (26.11.2008)
  Putin: Russia to postpone implementation of wood tariffs (13.11.2008)
  Finland replies to Russia’s diplomatic note over Anton custody dispute (29.5.2009)
  Motion in Russian Duma may cause through traffic via Finland to stop (19.5.2009)
  No anchors to be used when laying gas pipeline in Gulf of Finland (4.5.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat