Auto-PEC and First Federal Contrailer Operator Express are launching regular contrailer services. The companies plan to load up to five trailers a week between Moscow and Vladivostok.
The first contrailer shipment from Moscow to Vladivostok has demonstrated commercial validity of the project, PEC said. A semi-trailer laden with consolidated cargo was sent from the station of Silikatnaya of Moscow Railway on June 26 and arrived at the station of Ussuriysk in the Russian Far East on July 8 travelling 9.1 thousand km. From there, the semi-trailer was trucked to PEC’s warehouse in Vladivostok some 90 km. The overall transit time made 13 days.
According to PEC, the most commercially attractive segment for contrailer technology is transportation for a distance of 3.5-5 thousand km to regional hubs with a lot of cities and towns around them (no further than 700 km from the hubs), e.g. from Moscow to Novosibirsk or Vladivostok.
Though contrailer delivery takes longer haulage by road (14 days to Vladivostok compared to 10-11 days by road), it is 10-20% cheaper. The partners intend to optimize loading and unloading trailers onto/from rail platforms in order to cut time spent on these operations.
The companies also plan to expand service geography and consider adding Khabarovsk, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk.