Belarusian cargo exports via Russian ports up 11% in Q1 2026

“As for export freight traffic, volumes are growing,” Aleksei Lyakhnovich said. “We have two agreements in place: one on the transportation of petroleum products, and another on the transshipment of certain types of cargo. Both agreements are functioning. We are growing year on year. For the current quarter, speaking about ports and shipments to third countries, we have grown by 11%. Today we ship through nine ports, but the main ones are the ports of St. Petersburg.”  

Regarding new services, a number of goods are now moving on a direct route to China. “We are currently creating a new service called Kolosok. We have already dispatched several trains. I would like these trains to operate on a regular schedule. Moreover, we have calculated the cost per pallet space in a container. This will allow our shippers to send small batches of goods to China. We will test this service with China first, and then we will look at rolling it out to other countries. This provides an opportunity to enter the market of the destination country. Secondly, rail is still cheaper than road transport. This will create a certain competitive advantage for our Belarusian manufacturers,” the minister stressed.

According to him, ministry officials regularly meet with cargo shippers and invite them to joint commissions with the Russian Ministry of Transport to discuss volumes for the following year and record them in tables under the agreements. “We plan to adjust our volumes in May, taking into account the growth, and growth requires infrastructure. The Russian side is developing infrastructure based on our volumes. The bulk of next year’s volumes must be agreed by December 2026,” Aleksei Lyakhnovich said.