- Viktor Valentinivich, how do you estimate positions of rail transportation of oil in relation with competition with pipeline transport? Shall we expect reduction of railway part in connection with development of pipelines?
- Rate of oil in total amount of railway transportations of oil cargos performed by Evrotrans is about 15%. We have considerable park of own and leased tank-cars and consider it to be the most effective if we concentrate on transportation of oil products. But, as any other expediter we aim to preserve the oil transportation as well because regardless of the financial crisis it provides reliable and steady part of income.
Oil transportation by railway system of Russia takes 2% of total amount of conveyance of the nomenclature, correspondingly the pipeline transport takes 98%. It is difficult for railway to compete with pipe both in scope and in price. At the same time many consigners chose the railway transport for conveying oil and petroleum products because it has several unquestionable advantages.
First, the railway is known to preserve the quality of oil. Heavy sulfurous oil of the Urals and the Volga river basin mixes with light oil of Western Siberia. As the quality bank is absent the oil company mining and exporting the light oil which has the higher price at the market than the price of Ural oil loses the income. The railway transportation ensures the protection of quality. But the fact is that it loses the pipe at distances more than 500 km, because transportation by pipe appears to be cheaper.
Second, the railway is valued for its mobility. The pipeline transport was developed to comply with territorial and manufacturing principle - from the place of mining to the place of refining and for export, but steel trunks has the possibility to perform conveyance thanks to its ramified structure almost in any direction including the ones without pipeline system. For example 1.3 mln tons of oil of OJSC Vostokneftetrans passes the section Skovorodino - Kozmino monthly.
Third, the pipelines limits the throughput volume with quotas because of lack of capacities at most in-demand directions. Railway doesn't have that kind of disadvantage because it is not limited in volume of transportation.
Railway transportation of oil will remain mostly uncut and actual for oil-producing companies because of protection of quality, ensuring of mobility and lack of limitations, even in case of further development and construction of pipeline transport (OJSC AK Transneft plans to increase the present 70 thousand km by 11% and raise the pumping up to 500 mln tons per year)
CREDIT WENT UP
- How many tank-car are there in possession or under operational management of Evrotrans? How do you estimate leasing conditions if you used leasing at purchasing of tank-cars?
- TEK Evrotrans LLC possesses and manages 13.1 thousand railway tank-cars as of June 1. Most of them were bought under leasing agreements. There are many offers from leasing companies nowadays but the conditions are harder if compared with the ones which existed before the crisis. Minimal rate for refunding for the last ten years caused the reduce of annual appreciation of leasing item (in average by 10 - 8.7-8.9%) but also increased the period of granting for 1-1.5 years. At the same time credit resources for capital investments in hauling stock are offered short-termed (no more than three years) with unclear conditions of prolongation.
- Are investments in new tank-cars profitable today?
- Considerable role in the increase of risks concerned with capital investments in new tank-cars was played by dramatic appreciation of metal and deficit of car casting of the last five month. Price for a new tank is almost the same as before the crisis and amounts 1.9 mln rubles in Russia and $70 thousand in Ukraine and together with expensive credit resources it increases the payback period up to 7-8 years. It's too long not only by world standards but the Russian ones as well: average payback period of investments doesn't exceed 5 years in Russia.
Conundrum arises: the majority of transport companies need renewal and enlargement of their rolling stocks but investments into new tank-cars are profitless. Also there is even more important reason for renewal of the stock: purchasing of new models will allow to increase the quiescent load, reduce the losses for scheduled repair and increase the final income. The deferred demand of transportation companies undermines the situation in the branch, impairs the effectiveness and stops the development of shipping business.
NO DESCRIMINATION
- What are the technologies of transportation offered by Evrotrans nowadays?
- Frankly speaking the technologies offered by different forwarders don't vary dramatically. At the same time we try our best to use logistic schemes in order to reduce empty running, closely cooperating with other forwarding companies by joint using of rolling equipment. Besides we manage the stock in optimum way, loading the tank up to its capacity. Control and management of cars allows to organize the pushing for load in strictly agreed terms. Also the formation of exit route helps to reduce losses.
To maintain the quality of rolling stock dispatching, responsiveness and speed of reacting on requests of clients the net of affiliates was made on the way of cargo movement.
The company has its representative offices in Nizhniy Novgorod, Saint-Petersburg, Krasnodar, Orsk, Ufa and settlement Kolodezniy in Voronezh region/
ultimately our efforts on increasing the quality of forwarding services achieved the goal - we can offer conveying rates at some direction which are lower than in average in the market.
- What companies are among your clients?
- TEK Evrotrans LLC is in the forwarding market since 1997. Since that time we arranged long-term relations with large oil companies.
We have been rendering services for transportation of oil cargo for OJSC Lukoil. Thus we deliver petrol, fuel oil, vacuum gasoil from oil-processing plant of OJSC Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez for export in direction of sea ports in North-West sea basin and inner market. Monthly volumes are about 500 thousand tons.
Since the second half-year of 2006-го to the I quarter of 2008 Evrotrans was the only supplier of forwarding services for OJSC NK RussNeft. We transported oil cargos from OJSC Orskneftegorsintez, CJSC Krasnodarekoneft and LLC NK RussNeft-Bryansk for inner and foreign markets. Since the I quarter of 2010 we resumed contract with Russneft. We transport 400-450 thousand tons of oil cargo from OJSC Orskneftegorsintez.
We have been rendering forwarding services for transportation of raw oil from fields of Western Siberia to Finland for OJSC TNK-VR Holding.
- What other considerable tendencies are there on the market of forwarding services for organization of oil and petroleum transportation today?
- Oil cargos take the second position after coal among the most shipping nomenclatures in the network of Russian railways. Total scope of transportation in 2009 reduced by 15%, the reduction of oil cargos was only 1.8% if compared with 2008. It witnesses the stability and fair competition in the market and stresses that the formation of the market of oil cargos transportation has finished. In general it has been existing for more than 15 years: forwarders operate under comparable conditions and there is no discrimination. The success depends on the company itself, its business initiative, application of modern technologies of loading operations and technical and finance resources.
lately a positive tendency of cooperation between the forwards for joint solution of the problems is seen - use of rolling stocks and formation of logistic schemes which are profitable for all participants of the transportation process. The peculiarities of forwarding business in regions, especially on the Far East include high costs and relatively low quality of repair services and preparation of cars for loading.
- What advantages does your own terminal give to you?
Transnefteproduct. The terminal has profitable geographic position referring the board with Ukraine and ports of the Black sea, which allows to reduce the expenses of the clients to minimum sending the cargo in these directions. Besides the reserve park and the latest equipment make conditions for accumulation and formation of tank batches of diesel fuel and dispatching of it by route formations. Also we reduce expenses for preparing of the tank-cars for pouring as we possess washing and steaming equipment at the terminal. Maintenance and service of terminal handler is of some load for a forwarder, but it pays its way by increase of the quality of the services rendered.
