Russia’s key coal producing base Kuzbass faced ongoing bottleneck in raising coal exports via Far East ports due to insufficient railway capacity, said Sergei Tsivilev, the governor of Kuzbass.
Despite facing western sanctions, Russian coal companies managed to swiftly redirect their supplies towards east coast. However, the limited railway capacity within the eastern range has hindered their ability to fully utilize the North-Western terminals and efficiently transport coal to the Far Eastern ports.
Kuzbass coal companies have implemented projects aimed at increasing coal production and improving logistics. However, the Russian Railways (RZD) has failed to meet their targets within the scheduled timeframe.
According to Sergei Tsivilev, the volume of coal supplied from the Kuzbass region to the Far East has remained stagnant over the past six years. The bottleneck lies in the restricted throughput capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR), posing a significant obstacle to the growth of coal transshipment volumes from Kuzbass to the Far Eastern ports.
To address these challenges, the current development program for the eastern range aims to increase the carrying capacity of the BAM and TSR to 180 million tonnes annually by 2024.
This ambitious target encompasses various cargo types, including coal, oil, oil products, construction materials, and others. RZD expected a gradual increase in railway throughput capacity from 158 million to 173 million tonnes by 2023.
Source: sxcoal