On August 26, Mediterranean Shipping Co, the world's largest container line, stopped accepting applications for cargo transportation to and from Novorossiysk. The reason is a drone attack on its vessel MSC ULSAN III. On the same day, NKHP gave the first estimate of grain shipment return, from one to four months, and on August 28, the Rostov region introduced a state of emergency due to port shutdowns. The government allocated 9.7 billion rubles for preferential railway tariffs for agricultural exports that same week, and starting September 1, transportation documents are accepted only in electronic form.
MSC closed booking, Rostov region introduced a state of emergency
MSC notified clients on August 26 that the acceptance of new applications to and from the Russian port of Novorossiysk has been stopped. The line did not disclose details of the incident with MSC ULSAN III. Clients were offered to contact the Russian representative office to find other routes for import and export, and weekly flights will be restored when the situation allows. The notification for clients was transmitted by Kommersant referring to Bloomberg. The difference from previous weeks is simple. Previously, the lines introduced a surcharge for military risks or moved the port of call, now there is no booking at all, and the slot cannot be bought at any price.
The line did not name the return dates, so there is nothing to plan on it.
On August 28, news came from the south. Starting from 18:00 MSK, a regional state of emergency is in effect in the Rostov region. By order of Governor Yury Slyusar, the situation has been recognized as an emergency starting from July 10, 2026, because the ports have stopped, and maritime traffic in the Azov-Black Sea basin has been disrupted by attacks on logistics infrastructure. The reason for the decision is stated directly in the document. Agricultural producers have accumulated large volumes of agricultural products, and this threatens to violate the living conditions of people and cause material losses. The logistical disruption in the south is being formalized for the first time as an emergency mode at the level of an entire agricultural region, not just a single port or terminal.
One rule follows from these two news items for the September plan. Consider Novorossiysk and the Azov ports inaccessible until NKHP resumes grain shipments and MSC reopens booking. Make your base option one of the three operating routes, Baltic, Far Eastern, or Caspian. For each of them, fresh figures have appeared this week.
NKHP estimates a return of shipment from one to four months
Novorossiysk Grain Products Combine has named the period for the first time. In an IFRS report published on August 26, the company estimated how long it will take to resume shipments on the infrastructure damaged by the drone attack on August 12, and it turned out to be from one to four months. The range depends on which technological transshipment scheme is eventually chosen. According to the report, there are no final deadlines yet, technical examination of the facilities is underway. The property is insured, the amount of damage and insurance compensation is still being calculated. Interfax analyzed the figures from the report.
The scale of the lost capacity is visible in the first half of the year. From January to June 2026, NKHP shipped more than 2.43 million tons of grain for export, 1.7 times more than last year. That is, a deep-water terminal that was increasing shipments in the spring went out of service, and the pause covers the entire peak of the export season.
The government allocated 9.7 billion rubles for a preferential tariff for agricultural exports
On August 29, Mikhail Mishustin signed an order to allocate more than 9.7 billion rubles to subsidize railway transportation of agricultural products at preferential tariffs. The decision was made at a government meeting on August 27. According to the press release of the Cabinet, the money will compensate for the losses of carriers from the preferential tariff and allow fulfilling export obligations, taking into account the current situation in the Azov-Black Sea basin. Under the preferential tariff, you can send both in wagons and in containers, and the subsidy mechanism itself has been operating since 2019. Interfax cited the amount and wording according to the government press release.
Now literally. The state pays not for the repair of southern terminals, but for land bypass, that is, the export of grain by rail to ports in other basins. For cargo owners who send agricultural products in containers, it's a discount on the domestic route.
New routes through St. Petersburg, Vrangel and Astrakhan
FESCO, which is part of Rosatom's management контур, sent the first flight from St. Petersburg to Turkey. The vessel set sail on August 24, 2026, and will deliver Russian export cargo to Ambarli near Istanbul and Gebze, and will take containers with Turkish imports back. The group intends to make such flights regular and put several container ships on the route. According to Herman Maslov, deputy general director of the linear logistics division, the market now needs additional delivery options between Russia and Turkey. The flight was described by PortNews according to the FESCO press release. The Turkish route moved from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Longer, but without booking, which can be closed at any moment.
In the east, another line was added on August 27. The Far Eastern terminal Global Ports in Vrangel Bay began processing the regular container service of Eurosib to the Chinese ports of Qingdao and Ningbo. The container ship Hong Li Chang Jiu with a capacity of 1150 TEU operates, ship calls to Vrangel at least twice a month, transit is 4 days to Ningbo and 8 days to Qingdao. Import containers leave the terminal by fast trains to the distribution centers of Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, the terminal capacity is 700 thousand TEU per year.
The third route is the Caspian one. According to operational data from the Astrakhan Region government, ports of Astrakhan and Olya handled 4.2 million tons in January-July 2026, 79% more than last year. Astrakhan accounted for 3.6 million tons with an increase of 71%, Olya increased transshipment more than three times, to 0.6 million tons. Grain accounts for 45% of the cargo flow, cement transshipment increased by 2.3 times, imports added 22%, exports 54%, and the main export destination, Iran, is still there. Ship calls increased by 26%, 7.2 thousand in seven months. The Caspian route has already reached volumes it didn't have before by July.
Kraskino border crossing opens on a temporary scheme
On August 28, the government announced the opening of the Kraskino automobile and passenger checkpoint in Primorsky Krai after reconstruction. The order dated August 27 was signed by Mikhail Mishustin. The main buildings and auxiliary structures for state control at the checkpoint have already been built, but traffic is launched on a temporary scheme. The design capacity will be announced when all work is completed in the first quarter of 2027. This is 750 vehicles per day and 16 lanes, of which 10 are given to trucks.
Only the design capacity refers to 2027, not September. The capacity on the Chinese route is growing, but it's probably too early to plan September auto shipments through Kraskino as through an unloaded crossing.
Starting September 1, transportation documents are accepted only in electronic form
Starting September 1, 2026, all participants in cargo transportation issue transportation documents in electronic form. The requirement includes a transport waybill, order and application for road transportation, railway and aviation cargo waybills, forwarding documents. Paper remains only for approved exceptions, including force majeure, lack of internet, special cargoes, transactions with foreign counterparties, and transportation for personal needs. Vladimir Putin instructed to limit oneself to a verbal remark until March 1, 2027, when presenting a paper document instead of an electronic one. TKS.RU analyzed the changes referring to TASS.
The delay can be easily misinterpreted. It removes the fine on the road, not the obligation to work through the GIS EPD. A waybill issued on paper without a legal basis does not enter the system, and it is no longer possible to confirm expenses or deduction with it. The system has been operating on a voluntary basis since September 2022, more than 25 thousand organizations have been connected to it, including X5, Magnit, Ozon, Delovye Linii, and Russian Post. If your counterparty is not connected to the system, electronic document circulation for a specific transportation will not work for any of the participants in the chain, so it's worth asking the operator directly about it, not waiting for the first shipment.
Due to damage, 584 thousand sq. m of warehouse space left the market
Ricci revised the forecast for Moscow and Moscow region warehouses. The volume of transactions by the end of the year may increase by 8% year-on-year, to 1.5 million sq. m. The market was previously preparing for the opposite, NF Group expected a drop of 20–30%, to 1.1–1.3 million sq. m. The reason for the revision is that 584 thousand sq. m of warehouses have been lost due to infrastructure damage by August, and marketplaces will have to rent ready-made spaces to quickly restore capacity. Consultants' calculations were provided by Kommersant based on data from Ricci and IBC Real Estate.
The tenant thus gets a choice. Vacancy is likely to still grow by 3 percentage points year-on-year, to 7.7%, and the lost spaces do not cancel it, because logoparks are entering the market, the construction of which began several years ago. Rates, according to IBC Real Estate, will decrease by 9.5%, to 9.5 thousand rubles per 1 sq. m per year, and new construction will increase by 11%, to 2.3 million sq. m. Demand is growing not from the growth of turnover, but from the replacement of lost spaces, and these are different things for someone who is now bargaining on the rate.
What to do with September shipments
The south fell out not for a week, but for a period that NKHP measures in months, and the state is already paying for the detour by rail.
Look for a slot for September in the Baltic, in Vrangel, or on the Caspian, but don't include Kraskino in the plan as an unloaded crossing. Check agroshipments in containers to see if they qualify for the preferential tariff. Make out the first September waybill in the GIS EPD, even if the inspector on the road limits himself to a remark. And if you are looking for a warehouse for commodity reserves right now, bargain: the rate is going down.