Arkadius Grabiets: „Shipment of oversized cargo in Russia is very complicated"

There are more and more foreign companies entering the Russian logistics market. Managing Director of AKG LOGISTICS Arkadius Grabietz told in an interview with PortNews about the peculiarities of working in Russia.

 

 

- Please tell us about the development plans of your company in the Russian and global markets

On a global scale AKG Logistics wants to build up and constantly expand its international network. With serious partners we want to arrange cross trades and save time and money by delivering the cargo from one point to another.

 

Our current customers like Delta Shipping Agency Hamburg for instance say that our company is working very customer oriented, flexible and with a solid price-performance ratio.

 

That, again, is an important part of our philosophy as we want to work with the customers and partners in a fair and reliable way. Therefore, since the foundation in 2008 we are getting more and more attention in the international arena.

 

In the Russian market you need both a comprehensive knowledge of the domestic market structures and good relations to reliable partners. Especially as a newcomer, what AKG Logistics still is, collaboration with specialized partners for the different needs of the customers is a very important foundation to get a closer relationship to the clients and to get more and more clients.

 

To us it is fundamental to give our clients a full service with added value, not just to Russia but also from Russia.

 

The harbour of St. Petersburg is the main base to provide good logistics services into the Russian Federation and Central Asian area. For domestic transportation in Russia most goods and products with final destination eastern from Moscow will be delivered by train.

- Can you point out the main difficulties of working in Russia?

The Russian businesses don’t have the typical way of European thinking because with its 17 million square kilometers the Russian Federation is the world’s largest country and stretches across Europe and Asia. That means that the 142 million inhabitants also think in Asian ways what is much more complex than the so called Western approach.

 

To improve their intercultural competences our employees regularly visit their business partners and customers in Russia with the aim to get long term contracts and solid feedbacks regarding the workflows.

 

Due to flexibility and a good knowledge of the market our company is constantly growing together with the customers at a healthy pace.

 

Changes in customs legislation make the transportation of oversized cargo in Russia very complex as well. The route itself is another problem as we always have to take the road conditions into account as well as the railway crossings and bridges.

 

And, of course, the harsh winter makes an on time delivery quite difficult. Inland waterways can only be used from the end of April till the beginning of November.

 

Additionally, foreign ships don’t get permission to use those waterways before 2012 and legal specifications of transport trucks in Russia are not fully clarified at present.

 

Thus, we have to find alternative routes to get products to the customers promptly.

- What, in your opinion, are the current trends in international logistics? Can we expect in the future reorientation of cargo from sea to land transport due to tighter international environmental requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from ships?

Nowadays most of the companies, especially in the international arena, are thinking green. Our clients often tell us that the CO2 emissions are a basic topic in the decision how to get products to warehouses, factories or even to the customers.

 

President Medvedev recently said that the Russian government wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 per cent until 2050.

 

So we have to think over our transportation routes what means that there would be less direct truck deliveries but more short sea and rail opportunities which cause other additional problems in customs clearance.

 

And, again, the harsh Russian winter makes the inland shipping very difficult during the winter period. But together with our partners and clients we are permanently working on solutions for such issues. Because the network is constantly expanding our company is confident to find a way to save the environment on the long term.