December 26 2005, 14:06 BelTA

Russia: 53 freight trains demurred at the entry to Novorossiysk and Tuapse ports

According to SeaNews agency, at the current 53 freight trains awaiting for unloading demurred at the entry to Russian ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse.

Officials of North-Caucasian Railway said the demurrage had been caused by irregular arrivals of ships, which, it turn, had been partially caused by sailing restrictions in the Bosporus Strait, by lack of the shared information about the date of arrival of ships, as well as lack of storage capacities in the ports. Weather conditions have also interfered into the ships arrival schedule.

As of December 23 at the section, leading to Novorossiysk port, there were 38 trains demurred, including 4 trains with wheat, 10 with miscellaneous freights, 16 with fertilisers and 6 with oil products. Nine more trains with wheat were awaiting unloading in the port of Tuapse.

The stevedore companies working in the ports say the railway itself is to be blamed for the blocks. The main causes for the blocks, which have already become traditional for the south of Russia, are bottlenecks on the railway, the transport analysts say. There are no less than 10 such places on the Novorossiysk-bound line alone.

Over the last 2 years Russian Railways have invested some funds into reconstruction of the sidings, but these are said not to have been enough. Thus, in this year it is planned to invest some 137 million roubles into the Novorossiysk hub. But in order that the problems of rail access to the largest Black Sea port of Russia (the port's freight turnover is 10 million tonnes per month) be ultimately solved, there are no less than 3 billion roubles needed.