The Ministry of Economy did not find a surplus in the cargo transportation market

The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance refused to railway operators who demanded to stop state subsidies for the development of tank car production at Tikhvinkhimmash of the United Carriage Company (UWC) of Alexander Nesis. Operators feared that government support would only increase the surplus of tank cars in a falling freight market. But, according to the authorities, although there is a surplus in this sector, the project envisages the production of specialized tanks for chemical cargo and liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), which are in demand by the market.

Photo: Ivan Shapovalov, Kommersant / buy photo

The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Finance refused to suspend state subsidies for the Tikhvinkhimmash project for the production of tank cars. The corresponding review dated July 27, signed by Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economy Igor Reva, is available to Kommersant.

On June 17, the Council of Railway Operators (SOZHT) sent a letter to the government with a request to refuse state support for financing car-building projects in conditions of surplus (Russian Railways estimated the number of excess cars at 300 thousand out of 1.2 million units). In particular, SOZHT proposed not to provide state guarantees for 3 billion rubles. investment project for the production of tanks by JSC Tikhvinkhimmash, approved on May 15. The total cost of the project is 5.5 billion rubles, the maximum loan amount from Otkritie Financial Corporation is 3.04 billion rubles. In June, the project was already issued state guarantees for a maximum amount of 760 million rubles. The operators were against it: as the head of the First Freight Company (PGK) Vladimir Lisin, Oleg Bukin, said in June, in conditions of a “multiple surplus” and the presence of unused capacities for the production of tanks at Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), it is strange to give state guarantees to a plant that does not produce tanks at all.

The Ministry of Economy recognizes the fact of a surplus of tanks for oil products and gondola cars, noting that over ten years about 105 thousand such tanks were produced, while other types of cars were produced in significantly smaller volumes. But the letter noted that Tikhvinkhimmash will produce innovative tank cars on Barber bogies with an axle load of 25 tons, and the range will include chemical tank cars and articulated tank cars, which have no analogues on the market. The ministry clarified to Kommersant that there are no grounds for suspending funding. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance notes that information about the redundancy of state support for railcar manufacturers will be taken into account when forming the budget for 2016 and the planning period 2017-2018. UWC stated that the company has nothing to add to the Ministry of Economy’s argument.

Operators do not comment on the position of the Ministry of Economy. Freight One only says that they have not seen the ministry’s letter, but they do not renounce their position that financing the production of tanks is inadmissible when there is a surplus and there is an existing state manufacturer. A Kommersant source on the market notes that this is a feature of government agencies: they are not inclined to admit the fallacy of previously made decisions.

According to the head of the Infoline-Analytics agency, Mikhail Burmistrov, the refusal is logical: the operators’ complaints would be understandable if we were talking about oil tanks, but there is no surplus for tanks for chemical cargo and LPG. He added that it is unclear how the creation of production in Tikhvin affects the interests of large operators: LPG tanks are operated by a narrow circle of captive operators (Gazpromtrans, SIBUR-Trans, Lukoil-Trans, RN-Trans) and SG -Trans", and chemical tanks and tanks for acids are mainly owned by the largest manufacturers of these products. As for the underutilization of UVZ, we are talking primarily not about specialized, but about surplus oil tanks, says Mr. Burmistrov.

Natalya Skorlygina

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