The Russian container market is expected to grow by some 12% year-on-year in 2021 and by 10% in 2022, FESCO VP German Maslov shared forecasts speaking at TransRussia 2021 exhibition in Moscow. In 2023-2024 the growth rate is expected to decline down to some 6-7%.
‘The traffic is growing while the growth rate is declining. IN 2018, we saw a surge compared to 2017. In 2020, the industry was doing well and growing enough despite the pandemic,’ he said.
According to Maslov, the number of market players investing into building fitting platforms is increasing, which is justified by the market conditions as the traffic is on the rise.
He expects that the growth rate will be maintained during 2021-2022, while competition between operators is going to get tougher. ‘This is positive. Eventually, it will give an advantage for the industry as we will be offering better service for our customers, importantly, for those from Asia. We will be promoting transit via Russian Railways’ network as regular, stable and reliable service,’ Maslov said.
One of the market trends, according to Maslov, is the growing market share of independent container operators. ‘The share of major players is gradually declining but nobody is going to give way to competitors. We however welcome quality services by other operators.’
In 2020, FESCO intends to acquire terminals in key locations in Russia and expand their fitting platform fleet up to 10,000 units. ‘We see that our customers are increasing their shipments and will be doing so for several years ahead,’ Maslov explained.