On 18 November 2010 was held three conferences: «Water travel», «Logistics – an Efficient Tool of International Road Transport» and «Road building. The regional aspect».

On 18 November 2010, the conference «Water travel». Collaboration between the state and business in developing the sea and river transport infrastructure” was held as part of the IV International Congress “Transport of Russia”.

The Conference participants discussed such important matters for water transport in Russia as development of carriage by the Russian merchant fleet, the significance of the Northern Sea Route for implementing Russia’s unique transport potential, and use of public-private partnership mechanisms in development of the port infrastructure. Other matters considered at the Conference were development of a unified deep-water system for the European part of Russia as a promising link in the Greater European water transport ring, as well as personnel training for sea and river transport.

In his speech, Director of the Department for State Policy in the sphere of river and sea transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia Aleksei Klyavin announced that the answer to the question “is a fleet needed?” is an unqualified “yes!” He gave the example that, in Soviet times, the maritime fleet brought in 3-4 billion US dollars in net currency revenues. The current figure is dramatically lower. Yet, according to the experts, Russia pays from 9 to 10 billion US dollars for imported sea transport services, which is unsettling.

"Under the globalisation conditions, it cannot be claimed that 100% of foreign trade freight could be carried by the Russian merchant fleet, but 40-50 % is a quite realistic figure. What is more, development of navigation will provide an impetus to creating jobs in other industries”, said Aleksei Klyavin.

In 2005, a Law was passed on the Russian International Shipping Register (RMRS). As of today, there are 360 vessels with deadweight of 1.5 million metric tonnes registered in the RMRS. "From the point of view of volumes processed, this is not much, but in general the RMRS has fulfilled its function", noted Aleksei Klyavin. In terms of age, most of the ships registered in the RMRS are 5-6 years younger than the average vessel age. In this connection, the need arose to give an impetus to ship-owners renewing their fleets. A draft law on support for Russian shipping and ship-building has now been drafted by the Ministry of Transport, in conjunction with the Ministry for Industry and Trade, and has been submitted to the Government of the Russian Federation. It is quite comprehensive and is geared to developing Russian shipping and ship-building.

According to the Chairman of the Commission of the Federation Council for National Sea Policy Vyacheslav Popov, the Second Register is not operating as wished, and this became clear even at the stage of its adoption. In this connection, Vyacheslav Popov noted the need for explanatory work to be carried out at all stages in the review of bills, before they reach the State Duma. Moreover, for laws to work, they must, as far as possible, be direct action laws, noted Vyacheslav Popov.

The permanent representative of the Russian Federation in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Alexander Frolov informed the Conference participants about the main spheres of the IMO’s work and the position of the Russian Federation on these matters. He touched on aspects of the fight against piracy, auditing, discharges into the atmosphere and use of the Northern Sea Route.

The main strategic tasks of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping were outlined in the speech by its General Director Nikolai Reshetov. These tasks include developing regulatory requirements, strengthening the scientific council, supporting a quality system, training and further training of personnel and more. All this, according to Reshetov, will make it possible to fulfil the tasks set for the Register by the Maritime Administration of the Russian Federation.

The Conference participants demonstrated particular interest in discussing the prospects for development of the Northern Sea Route. According to Governor of the Murmansk Region Dmitry Dmitriyenko, the Northern Sea Route is a strategic route for transporting Russian hydrocarbons and servicing shelf deposits.  He believes that the work on passing the requisite regulatory and legal acts to promote shipping, ship-building and servicing of shelf deposits should be speeded up.

Chairman of the Board of Tschudi ShippingCo, Felix Tschudi, shared his experience of ships’ passage along the Northern Sea Route, noting that the main thing is the stage of preparatory work. Aleksei Klyavin stressed that the Northern Sea Route would only be possible given sufficient cargo turnover.

In the opinion of the General Director of Rosmorport Igor Rusu, from the point of view of use of public-private partnership mechanisms, we are a long way from normal team investment activity. The functions of co-ordinating investment projects in the industry are still in the hands of Rosimushchestvo.

The Head of the Federal Agency for Sea and River Transport Aleksandr Davydenko touched on aspects of development of the unified deep-water system for the European part of Russia as a promising link in the Greater European water transport ring. He noted that opening of inland water routes in Russia for vessels under foreign flags was directly linked with development of the infrastructure on these internal waterways.

Matters of personnel training were presented in the speeches by the Head of FGOU VPO MGA named after F.F. Ushakov, Sergei Kondratyev, the Dean of St. Petersburg State Water Transport University Sergei Baryshnikov, and the President of the State Maritime Academy named after S.O. Makarov, Ivan Kostylyev.

On 18 November 2010, a round table “Logistics – an Efficient Tool of International Road Transport” was held as part of the IV International Congress “Transport of Russia”.

The event was opened by the Deputy Director of the Department for State Policy in Road and Urban Passenger Transport of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Aleksandr Sherstnyov, who noted that the transport system today is undergoing qualitative and structural changes in which logistics occupy a key position.

Mr Sherstnyov stressed that the global and the Russian economies are coming out of the crisis, which has brought about an increase in demand for logistics services, in particular transport and forwarding services. One of the determining roles in the revival and further development of international supply chains is played by transport logistics, providing for goods movements.

"At present, competition in international road haulage is becoming increasingly fierce and the accent in transport policy is shifting from gross to structural indicators”, Mr Sherstnyov stated.

President of the Association of International Road Carriers, Evgeny Moskvichev, noted that road transport was organically integrated into today’s logistics systems, being the most flexible and dynamic link in the system for transport servicing of international trade.

"At the same time, “smart” logistics must be set up, to minimise the transport element in the cost of goods”, Mr Moskvichev stressed.

The participants in the Round Table discussed development of the regulatory and legal framework for road transport and forwarding activities, the administrative barriers faced by road carriers, and the low standard of Russian forwarding services compared with those in other countries. The key areas of work were formulated for combining the efforts of state authorities and business. In particular, legislative and other legal acts to improve regulation of the forwarding and road transport services market must be adopted as soon as possible. This applies, as a first priority, to the draft Federal Law “On Road Transport and Road Transport Activities and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” and Rules for Road Haulage. The speakers supported reducing the encumbrances on international road carriers by eliminating superfluous administrative barriers, including those existing on the Russian border.

On 18 November 2010, the conference “Road building. The regional aspect” was held as part of the IV International Congress “Transport of Russia”.

The key topic discussed at the Conference was strengthening of mutual links between the Russian regions as one of the main ways to develop the country’s road transport infrastructure further. As was stressed by the Head of the Federal Highway Agency Anatoly Chabunin, to find such points of contact means to use comparatively small financial investments to reduce the current excess mileage of road transport by many hundred kilometres. The Head of Rosavtodor told those present about the progress in establishing the highway fund system, adding that, yesterday, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin had announced the decision to create regional road funds.

The Conference participants also discussed the need to cut costs and improve work quality by using innovative materials and technologies, for which purpose an improvement of the legal framework would be required. This would create the conditions under which design companies would be unable to ignore existing innovations, and contractors would have to learn to use them. At the same time, serious scientific support for contracts being implemented is very important. For this to be possible, long-term planning is needed, for at least 25-30 years ahead, as well as introduction of life-cycle contracts. According to the Chairman of the Management Board of GK Avtodor, Sergei Kostin, such projects are already being planned. The amendments to the legislation regarding federal and regional highways for heavy trucks aroused a multitude of questions. This work is currently being handled by the Ministry of Transport of Russia. Mr Chabunin stressed that the 1.5 million Kilometres of roads laid down in Russia’s Transport Strategy was a fully realistic figure to aim at.