By mid-October, all container shipping lines had withdrawn from Novorossiysk, with ECCL being the last to relocate to the Baltic. This was reported by Sea-Shipping CEO Alexey Gagarinov, and for us, this is personal news. TransGID operates a branch and its own container terminal in Novorossiysk, so we monitor developments in this port firsthand. If you are shipping a container from China by sea, it now arrives in St. Petersburg or Vladivostok, while road freight moves through border crossing points. This week, St. Petersburg and road checkpoints faced their own bottlenecks, one of which directly affects container trains arriving from Vladivostok. In addition, there is important financial news: starting November 1, importing goods from a Belarusian supplier will require an advance VAT security deposit before crossing the border.
A brief takeaway for those scheduling shipments for November. Routes are now chosen based on transit bottlenecks rather than freight rates alone. St. Petersburg is experiencing a shortage of vessels, and the Avtovo railway station handles both container evacuation from the port and inbound trains from Vladivostok. Meanwhile, Zabaikalsk is handling over 1,100 trucks on peak days. Financial allocations must also be calculated in advance: if your contractual vendor is Belarusian and cargo moves by road, each shipment from November onward will require an upfront deposit covering import VAT and excise duty prior to vehicle departure.
Last container lines have left Novorossiysk for the Baltic
Gagarinov shared this insight at an industry container logistics conference, as reported by Delovoy Peterburg. St. Petersburg has absorbed short-sea carriers from Turkish ports as well as deep-sea ocean services previously handling China–Novorossiysk routes. Turkish carriers began shifting vessel tonnage to St. Petersburg back in late summer, according to Alta-Soft.
Since the summer of 2024, the Big Port of St. Petersburg handled no more than 1.4 million TEU annually; however, by the end of 2026, Gagarinov projects turnover to climb to 1.6 million TEU. In operational terms, sea containers shipped from China to Southern Russia are now discharged either in St. Petersburg or Vladivostok and then moved inland by rail or road. We calculate such deliveries door-to-door—from the loading port directly to your consignee warehouse—since the overland transit leg from St. Petersburg to Krasnodar is considerably longer than it was from Novorossiysk.
St. Petersburg faces vessel shortages despite Asia–Europe rates dropping for the 13th consecutive week
According to Gagarinov, the Baltic market has hit tonnage constraints. Current fleet capacity consists primarily of 1,500–1,800 TEU feeder vessels, while larger container ships operating on the China–St. Petersburg trade lane have already been redeployed or sold. A new 4,350 TEU vessel contracted for OVP Shipping will only enter Baltic rotation in Q2 2027. Landside infrastructure imposes additional restrictions: Nikolay Parfenov, chief engineer at Russian Railways' transport center on the October Railway, notes that the Avtovo station operates at nearly half the cargo throughput capacity of the marine terminals it serves.
Meanwhile, global container freight benchmarks continue to drop. As of October 8, the Drewry WCI fell 2% to $4,351 per 40-foot container, Shanghai–Rotterdam softened to $3,337, and Asia–Europe trade lanes have posted declines for 13 consecutive weeks. However, the drop in global ocean freight rates does not lower your St. Petersburg landed cost, because regional pricing is dictated by available vessel capacity and terminal rail dispatch speed. We advise against anticipating that Baltic freight rates will mirror European index trends.
Containerized imports via Russian Railways grew by 23.7%; FESCO doubled trains from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg
From January to September, Russian Railways transported 5.911 million TEU (+4.9% year-on-year), handling 651.9 thousand TEU in September alone (+7.2%). Import volumes drove the strongest growth: according to Russian Railways data, imports surged by 23.7% to 1.529 million TEU. Conversely, rail export container traffic fell 2.1%. Shipments of automobiles and automotive components rose 1.5-fold to 318.1 thousand TEU, while machine tools and industrial equipment climbed 27.4%.
A significant portion of this freight moves through Vladivostok. In September, FESCO dispatched 20 container trains from Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port to Avtovo and Zanevsky Post stations—double the 2026 monthly average, totaling over 2.6 thousand TEU. Accelerated container train transit takes 12–14 days. Because part of this rail service terminates at Avtovo—the very station evacuating boxes from St. Petersburg port—rail terminal congestion impacts both corridors. Rerouting via Vladivostok solves the Baltic vessel shortage, but does not entirely bypass rail congestion at destination stations.
TransGID frequently utilizes the Vladivostok rail corridor for high-value cargo, such as branded power tools. A 40-foot container from Ningbo arrived at the Port of Vladivostok, transitioned onto an accelerated container block train, and completed the last-mile delivery to Yekaterinburg by dedicated truck. Customs clearance at Vladivostok was completed in just one business day.
Grain from the South moves to the Baltic via the same port rail approaches
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maxim Borovoy projects that approximately 1.5 million tons of grain will be exported via Baltic ports in October—equaling the total volume of the entire previous season. The government has allocated 9.7 billion rubles to subsidize rail freight for grain delivered to maritime ports. The Ministry of Agriculture requested the inclusion of the Krasnodar Krai (destined for the Northwest), Astrakhan Oblast, and Dagestan into subsidized rail routes, a proposal approved by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev on October 8.
While grain is handled in bulk hopper cars and dedicated terminals, it travels over the exact same rail junctions servicing Northwestern marine terminals. If your container is being dispatched inland from St. Petersburg, factor in transit buffer times for this corridor through October and November, and contact TransGID to verify current terminal evacuation schedules.
Kraskino processes up to 750 trucks daily; cargo flow via Zabaikalsk increased by 20.6%
On October 6, the Minister of Transport inaugurated operations at the modernized Kraskino border checkpoint between Primorsky Krai and China. Following a two-and-a-half-year overhaul, the crossing now operates 16 inspection lanes, accommodating up to 750 vehicles per day, including 650 freight trucks. According to the Ministry of Transport, the freight lane introduced Russia's first integrated inspection and screening facility combined with automated weight and dimension control, scanning and weighing trucks simultaneously. During trial operations since September 22, over 2.7 thousand trucks cleared the border, with the target inspection cycle set at 10 minutes per truck.
Over the first nine months, Zabaikalsk processed 2.4 million tons of freight (+20.6% year-on-year) and cleared 236.3 thousand commercial trucks compared to 181.9 thousand a year earlier. This averages around 860 trucks daily, with September seeing three peak days exceeding 1,100 vehicles (setting a record of 1,103 on September 27). Southern road corridors also posted traffic growth: Verkhny Lars cleared an average of 1,142 trucks daily since August, up from 1,039.
For road shipments originating in China and bound for Primorye, Kraskino is a viable option worth reviewing with our team. On peak days, border queues at Zabaikalsk can offset the lead-time advantages of road transport, so we schedule Zabaikalsk transits with dedicated queue contingency buffers.
From November 1, imports from Belarusian suppliers will require a security deposit
The SPOT system (System for Confirming Expected Delivery of Goods) has been operational since June 1, 2026, governing cargo imported from EAEU member states by road transport. As of July 1, security deposits became mandatory for imports arriving from Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. For Belarus, the Federal Tax Service extended an implementation grace period until November 1, provided the supplier is a registered Belarusian legal entity or individual entrepreneur and the truck traverses the Russia–Belarus border. From November 1, the procedure mirrors that of all other member states. No later than two calendar days prior to cross-border delivery, the importer must submit a DOPP (Advance Shipment Notification Document). You must then remit a payment covering estimated import VAT and excise duty, obtaining a QR code verifying fund allocation before the truck departs. Note: if Chinese origin cargo has already undergone customs release in Belarus or Kazakhstan and is sold to you by a local entity, this constitutes an intra-EAEU shipment requiring the mandatory security payment.
For a consignment valued at 10 million rubles subject to 22% VAT, this translates to roughly 2.2 million rubles per DOPP—or around 11 million rubles across five shipments—capital that must be disbursed before goods arrive at the border. This deposit is offset against indirect taxes after filing your standard indirect tax declaration. Exemptions apply exclusively to authorized economic operators (AEOs), major corporate taxpayers, and participants in the state tax monitoring regime. In clarification guidance reported by Alta-Soft, the Ministry of Finance confirmed that the issued QR code has no expiration date and remains valid if the vehicle is transloaded en route; vehicles presenting at the border without a valid QR code will be turned back with all cargo.
If your vendor is a Belarusian company, assess your working capital requirements for November immediately. Coordinate dispatch schedules with your supplier, as any truck arriving without registered prepayment and a verified QR code will face border refusal.
Whose operational plans remain unaffected by the week's news
If your ocean container discharges in Vladivostok and connects to rail for delivery to Moscow, Yekaterinburg, or Siberia, the exit of Novorossiysk carriers and Baltic tonnage shortages will not directly impact your supply chain. Avtovo throughput limits primarily affect freight moving via the Port of St. Petersburg into the hinterland and Vladivostok block trains terminating at that specific railhead.
The SPOT security deposit requirement does not apply to goods cleared in Russia under a standard customs cargo declaration (DT), as SPOT strictly governs goods in circulation within the EAEU. If your contract is with a Chinese supplier and goods arrive under customs transit, conventional customs clearance rules remain in effect. Furthermore, air cargo and direct rail shipments remain unaffected by SPOT regulations, which currently apply solely to cross-border road freight.
Rosatom now controls half of the nation's container throughput
Rosatom has acquired Sergey Shishkarev's 51% stake in the Delo Group for 77 billion rubles, according to Kommersant. The transaction closed on October 7, consolidating 100% state corporation ownership. Rosatom already controls 92.5% of FESCO; combined, the two entities command approximately 50% of container handling capacity and 44% of rail container freight volume in Russia. Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev stated this marks the final consolidation phase of logistics assets, anticipating over 100 billion rubles in CAPEX synergies over the next decade.
This consolidation will not impact active shipments, as no integration milestones or updated tariff schedules have been released. TransGID will closely monitor terminal handling charges in Vladivostok and St. Petersburg post-merger and keep clients advised as commercial terms evolve.
On October 15, the first truck from Kazakhstan to Russia will depart under an electronic e-CMR
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) scheduled the inaugural pilot transit using the international digital consignment note (e-CMR) along the Kazakhstan–Russia route for October 15. The initiative involves national regulatory authorities of EAEU member states, accredited EDI operators, and commercial carriers. Pilot findings will be reviewed by the EEC Council in December 2026. Official dates for mandatory e-CMR implementation across all EAEU cross-border road freight have not yet been announced.
Domestically, electronic logistics documentation is already widely adopted. According to recent Ministry of Transport figures, over 39 million electronic transport documents were issued via the National GIS EPD platform in a single month. If you contract domestic Russian hauliers independently, verify whether they support electronic waybills (ETRN). Consignments relying on physical paper documentation face increasing receiving delays at terminal distribution hubs.
Cargo from Mumbai for Aeroflot flights is now routed via Delhi
For roughly two weeks, Mumbai Airport (BOM) has halted intake of cargo booked on Aeroflot and Volga-Dnepr flights, forcing laden trucks to return to shippers. This was reported by TKS and Alta-Soft citing RBC. With airport authorities yet to provide official rationale, Aeroflot cargo general sales agent Delmos Aviation escalated the matter to the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation on September 30. Freight is currently being rerouted by road to Delhi (DEL) to connect with Aeroflot flights to Moscow; however, cargo reservations do not guarantee uplift. There is no overarching bilateral embargo on air freight operations between India and Russia.
When booking air cargo shipments out of Western Indian manufacturing hubs, account for the domestic trucking leg to Delhi along with airport dwell time. Until operations normalize, we recommend planning schedules without relying on fixed-day departures from Mumbai.
We select November routes based on bottlenecks rather than freight rates
Our approach starts by identifying potential chokepoints along your cargo's path—be it Baltic berth availability, Avtovo terminal railhead capacity, or border checkpoint queues—before comparing line-haul freight rates. SPOT deposit obligations are budgeted separately based on supplier jurisdiction and cross-border transport mode.
If you are planning shipments for November, provide TransGID with your TN FEA code and product specification. We will deliver a comprehensive preliminary duty and tax calculation and optimize your routing before you issue supplier payment.