From September 8 to September 14, 2026, Russian Railways announced the second indexation in a year. Now contractual fees have also increased, warehouses in the Moscow region continued to fall in price against the background of record commissioning of space, and the South Korean container ship for the first time passed the Northern Sea Route with cargo to Europe. Eleven stories of the week are changing the route planning for those who work with the Far East, Mongolia and BRICS.
Russian Railways raises tariffs and contractual fees
On September 7, the Board of Russian Railways decided to raise contractual fees for works and services by 8.5% from October 1, 2026. Shunting operations, carriage delivery and cleaning, storage, registration and reissue of documents fall under the indexation — operations that usually go on a separate line in the invoice, in addition to the basic fare.
The fees are being indexed day by day with an increase in freight tariffs by the same 8.5%, which the government approved back in July, but postponed from January to October. The customer pays more for the transportation itself and for related operations at the station. Fees with average network rates, which the board sets separately, are not indexed.
For the shipper, the difference is felt in small things: in the bill for the idle time of the wagon under loading, for the reissue of the invoice due to an error in the details, for maneuvers on the access road. These items of expenditure become more expensive along with the base tariff.
Russian Railways container shipments are growing faster than expected
In January–August 2026, the Russian Railways network transported 5.26 million TEU containers, which is 4.6% more than in the same period last year. August accelerated to 7.3%, to 664.9 thousand TEU, noticeably overtaking the average annual dynamics.
Inside, the numbers diverge in different directions. Import shipments increased by 23.3%, export shipments decreased by 2.5%. Russian Railways expects to end the year at a record 8 million TEU compared to 7.6 million in 2025.
The acceleration in August looks interesting against the background of rising tariffs. Freight traffic increases along with the price of transportation. Containers remain one of the few segments where the railway benefits from alternatives in terms of timing and predictability, and shippers are willing to pay more for this predictability.
Transbaikalia will receive the world's first unmanned border for containers
The Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, Mosstroytrans and the government of the Trans-Baikal Territory signed an agreement on the construction of an unmanned cargo delivery system to China. The site was named Starotsurukhaitui — Heishantou, and the CRRC Corporation assumed the role of a technological partner from the Chinese side.
Private investors will invest about 22 billion rubles in the project. The system is called the world's first fully automated cross-border railway for container cargo. An intelligent rail platform with automated control and a joint Russian-Chinese transportation management center should remove a person from the narrowest place on the border, where time is currently being wasted on inspecting trains and changing locomotive crews.
In parallel, two transport and logistics centers with a capacity of 15 and 10 million tons per year are being built in Priargunsky and Borzinsky districts with investments of 8.27 billion rubles. 120 jobs will be created for them. For the eastern direction, where a significant volume of cargo traffic has shifted over the past year, this is part of the system's focus on automating the border crossing.
South Korea for the first time conducted a container ship to Europe through the Arctic
The PanStar Acro container ship, which left Busan, passed the Arctic section of the Northern Sea Route, the Chukchi Sea and the Vilkitsky Strait, deviating from the original route due to drifting ice. The ship then goes to Felixstowe on September 12, Rotterdam on September 13 and Gdansk on September 16, and then returns to Busan by the same northern route. Arrival is expected around October 12th.
This is South Korea's first test flight of a container ship across the NSR. Test flights usually precede the decision on regular service. Asian carriers are checking the northern route one by one as an alternative to the traditional routes through the Suez Canal, and each such flight provides more data for a decision on permanent lines.
For Russian logistics, each successful passage of such a vessel shows that the Northern Sea Route is gradually turning from an internal transport corridor into an international transit route.
The Far East is preparing to receive 63 million tons more cargo
The Ministry of Transport announced plans to increase the capacity of the seaports of the Far East by almost 63 million tons by 2030. The list includes Vladivostok, Vanino, Vostochny, Korsakov and Anadyr, as well as remote terminals on Sakhalin and Chukotka. The construction of a new large port in Primorsky Krai has been announced separately.
Currently, there are 21 seaports operating in the Far Eastern Federal District with a total capacity of about 413 million tons, which is a quarter of the total Russian cargo turnover. The expansion by 63 million tons is an increase of about 15% to the current capacity of the region. Trade continues to expand to China and Asia, and port capacity has not yet kept pace with this reorientation.
For operators working with the eastern direction, this is a reason to plan contracts and warehouses for years to come. New capacities will not appear in one season, but the direction of public investment usually determines where it is more profitable to gain a foothold now.
Warehouses in Moscow are getting cheaper because there are too many of them
The weighted average requested rental rate for ready-made class A warehouses in the Moscow region decreased in the three quarters of 2026 from 10,500 to 10,140 rubles per square meter per year, excluding VAT. Vacancy rates increased to 6.9%, including subletting.
The reason is the volume of new construction. In January–September, 1.68 million square meters of Class A and B warehouses were commissioned in Moscow and the region, which is 83% more than a year earlier. By the end of the year, another 620 thousand square meters are expected, and by the end of 2026, the total volume of new supply may be the highest in the last 12 years.
For tenants, whether they are retail, marketplaces or logistics operators, this is a rare moment in the warehouse market: conditions are in their favor, there is more choice of space and space for bidding at a bid. For developers and owners of ready-made warehouses, the picture is reversed, with competition for tenants growing faster than demand.
The Leningrad region is again producing 20–30 liters of gasoline per day.
The authorities of the Leningrad region warned of a repeat of the July scenario. Part of the gas station is running out of gas again. The reason is that oil refineries, including Kirishinefteorgsintez, reduced fuel shipments after attacks on infrastructure, and supply logistics turned out to be unbalanced faster than the region has time to rebuild it.
In July, 65 of the 359 gas stations in the region suspended operations. Now the authorities are trying to prevent a repeat of this scale and have switched to manual supply management mode, synchronizing actions with major network players. The priority is to provide drivers with at least 20–30 liters of fuel per day for refueling.
For logistics companies operating in the region, this is the second episode in three months — a reason to lay fuel failures in route planning in the Northwest as a recurring operational risk.
Mongolia becomes a transit partner of Russia
The Second Forum of the Regions of Russia and Mongolia is taking place in Ulaanbaatar on September 14–15. The Russian delegation is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, and more than 220 representatives from 14 regions of Russia and Mongolia are participating in the forum. The agenda includes strengthening transport connectivity, unlocking transit potential and reducing non-tariff barriers to trade.
Separately, the parties are discussing the implementation of the temporary trade agreement between the EAEU and Mongolia. Both sides are forming a more stable overland route between the Russian economy and Asian markets, and the Mongolian route complements the already growing transit through the border crossings of the Far East.
So far, the forum's effect is measured in agreements, not in tons of cargo. Such platforms determine which barriers will be removed first next year, and logisticians planning routes through Mongolia should keep an eye on the final documents.
Rosatom offers BRICS a ride along the Northern Sea Route
At the BRICS summit in New Delhi, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev proposed developing logistics of the Northern Sea Route as a separate area of cooperation within the association. The goal is to turn the NSR into a full-fledged Arctic transport corridor with access to the markets of East and Southeast Asia.
This requires infrastructure, which is still lacking — ports, terminals, icebreaking escort and transshipment facilities. China and the Republic of Korea have already shown practical interest and conducted test flights, including the September transit of the PanStar Acro container ship through the Arctic. The specific parameters of the BRICS participation in the development of the route have not yet been disclosed, the initiative is at the start.
The timing of the flight of the South Korean container ship is no coincidence: the carriers' corporate tests and the BRICS diplomatic agenda are now working towards the same goal. But so far, this is an initiative without a budget and deadlines, and not a signed plan.
The paper invoice received five new exceptions
The order of the Ministry of Transport No. 391 dated September 2, registered on September 4, expanded the list of cases when a bill of lading can be issued on paper instead of the electronic document management required from September 1, from 8 to 13 items. Among the new exceptions are transportation in the interests of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rosgvardiya, FSB, Ministry of Emergency Situations, as well as cargo in emergency zones and counter—terrorism operations.
The list also includes printed publications and dual-use goods in foreign trade operations. The measure does not cancel the transition to electronic invoices. It removes some of the difficulties where digital document management is objectively inapplicable or redundant, in law enforcement agencies and in emergency regimes.
For the majority of commercial carriers, the rule of the game has not changed. Since September 1, an electronic invoice is mandatory, and the expanded list of exceptions does not apply to them. This is a point adjustment of the rules introduced on September 1st.
Strait of Hormuz hits tanker freight and reaches Russia
Alexey Zabotkin, Deputy Head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, said that the pro-inflationary impact of the Middle East escalation on Russia is gradually increasing. About 15% of the world's oil exports and 20% of liquefied natural gas pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and both flows are currently intermittent.
Charterers refuse to send large-tonnage tankers to the strait area, insurance and freight are becoming more expensive, and ship traffic remains far from normal: according to Reuters, quoted by TASS, only 7 ships passed through the strait on September 10. Against the background of the escalation, the price of diesel in the United States exceeded $ 6 per gallon for the first time.
There is a risk that the escalation will spread to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Then global freight will receive a second node of problems at the same time as the first, and the pressure on shipping costs for everyone who depends on these corridors, including Russian importers and exporters, will continue to grow regardless of the country's direct involvement in the conflict.