Agricultural Shipments Face Rail Transport Disruptions
Participants in the Ministry of Agriculture's task force meeting on redirecting freight flows reported difficulties in organizing rail transportation for agricultural products. They mentioned that GU-12 applications, necessary for transferring from water transport to railways, are being approved with limitations or rejected; previous agreements are being altered, and there are delays in the provision of wagons and container trains.
According to "Soyuzsakhara", the cost of transportation has significantly increased: the container tariff rose from 270,000 to 425,000 rubles, which is an increase of 57.4%. The Center for Price Indices recorded an increase in prices for other railway services in October as well. Monthly rental of a fitting platform increased by 26%, reaching 1,600 rubles per day, and the cost of a technical trip can reach 5,000 rubles per day. The transportation of grain in hopper wagons to the Baltic ports increased by 25%.
An additional load arose after the reduction of shipments through the Azov-Black Sea basin. According to a source, since July 2026, restrictions on port operations and damage to facilities due to drone attacks have led to a redirection of some flows to other routes. Rosselkhozbank expects that in 2026, the share of the Azov-Black Sea basin in grain exports will amount to 63%, which is 18 percentage points less than the previous year.
Baltic ports have become one of the main routes for redirecting shipments. The Institute for Natural Monopoly Problems reported that in August, exports through key checkpoints in the north-west of Russia reached 13 million tons, increasing by 18.8% year-on-year. Grain deliveries increased six-fold, black metals by 91.6%, and coal by 56.7%. Representatives of the oil, metallurgy, and chemical industries also reported a number of applications exceeding the capacity of approaches to the north-western ports.
According to Albina Koryagina, a business development partner at Neo, trains have been waiting longer for "windows", and the use of railways has become less efficient. She also pointed to restrictions from Baltic countries and additional loads on port stations. If it is impossible to accept cargo even with a previously approved application, wagons accumulate at loading sites, which, according to her, reduces the availability of empty rolling stock.
The Ministry of Agriculture stated that the government is taking measures to maintain stable grain exports. Subsidies for railway tariffs are being preserved for agricultural producers, and grain cargos are given increased priority. The ministry added that Russian Railways is increasing the capacity of infrastructure at port terminals. The company reported that it is using the necessary resources for transportation to the North-West and the Far East and coordinating work with shippers. However, the approval of transportation depends both on network capabilities and on the readiness of recipients to timely handle incoming wagons.
Artem Suvorov, project manager at Strategy Partners, noted that the increase in costs particularly affects goods with relatively low value, including grain. He stated that some routes are becoming economically unviable. Switching to road transport, as reported by Koryagina, does not solve the issue: per ton-kilometer, it is 2.5–3 times more expensive than rail transport. Russian Railways urged not to exaggerate the scale of difficulties and stated that the restructuring of logistics requires joint and coordinated efforts.
