Russian Railways, FESCO and PhosAgro organise test container shipments along BRICS routes
The results of test container shipments along BRICS routes were discussed and analysed at the BRICS Business Forum, which was dedicated to the prospects for strengthening the business partnership of the BRICS countries in a new format.
The BRICS Business Forum took place within the framework of the XXVIII St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The shipments were the practical result of work to implement the recommendations of the BRICS Business Council, which were presented in October 2024 at the BRICS summit in Kazan.
The container transportation operators were companies belonging to RZD Holding, including RZD Logistics, JSC Russian Railways Business Asset, FESCO Transport Group and PJSC PhosAgro, as well as companies from other BRICS countries.
The containers were dispatched to India and South Africa along route No. 1 on the North-South International Transport Corridor (ITC), taking into account the sea leg, to China, along route No. 2, the East-West (ITC), to India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) along route No. 3 via the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin, and to Brazil along route No. 4 via the ports in Russia’s North-West region.
The routes were classified in 2024 by the working group on infrastructure, transport and logistics of the BRICS Business Council. Their further development is one of the key conditions for increasing the logistics and interconnectivity between the BRICS countries.
"Our task is to traverse the route together with our partners, objectively recording the obstacles the cargo encounters en route and developing proposals for their elimination," said Sergey Pavlov, the First Deputy Managing Director of Russian Railways. "This will allow us all to adapt to the growing cargo flow between the BRICS countries."
The results of this work will form the basis for an updated BRICS Transport Barriers Review, which is planned to be discussed at the Business Council events within the framework of the upcoming summit due to be held this July in Brazil.
In the five months from January to May 2025, the volume of transportation on Russian Railways in communication with the BRICS countries amounted to 126 million tons, an increase of 4.2% compared to the same period in 2024.
On 22 April 2025, JSC RZD Business Asset dispatched a train with 76 containers of timber from the Syktyvkar station at Northern Railways to the city of Taicang in the People’s Republic of China via the port of Nakhodka. It followed BRICS route No. 2, in othr words the East-West ITC.
On 21 May 21, JSC RZD Logistics dispatchyed paper products from Northern Railways along BRICS route No. 1, the North-South ITC, to the port of Durban in South Africa.
On 1 June 2025, the FESCO Transport Group, as part of its sea line, dispatched containers carrying non-ferrous metals and livestock products from the port of Novorossiysk to the Indian ports of Nava Sheva and Mundra, as well as wood-processing products to the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE. During this transportation, barriers along BRICS route No. 3, which inlcudes the ports on the Azov-Black Sea basin, were analyzed.
In June, PhosAgro also dispatched freight to Brazil along BRICS route No. 4 through Russia’s ports in the North-West.