For many years Germany has remained the leading foreign trade partner to Russia. It greatly outpaced the EU countries in terms of import volumes to Russian Federation and is considered as one of the three major exporters from Russia. Over the recent years Germany hasn’t contributed considerably to the import freight traffic. Nevertheless, for the last quarters of 2012 Germany has shown a slight divergence in overall international transportation trends between the EU and Russian Federation.
Germany is estimated to provide the fifth part of the total import from Europe and maintain sustainable economic growth for many years. According to Eurostat, nearly 4,89 and 6,30 million ton cargoes were imported from Germany by various types of transport in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The largest volume of automobile carriages was in transit through the territory of Russian Federation. Multiple advantages of carriages by truck transport between Europe and Russian Federation cannot be underestimated either. In 2010-2011 cargo adjustment between various types of transport has changed significantly, adding value to sea carriages.
For the first half of 2012 the overall trend appeared to switch the focus. Firstly, the share of Germany in the total cargo turnover from the EU to Russia dropped from 20,74% to 19,76% (compared to the same period last year). Secondly, sea carriage turnover in the first half of 2012 has decreased by 75,000 t, whereas volumes of automobile carriages were associated with sustainable growth rates. At the end of the day, truck transport started to take advantage over sea and railway transport. Generally, it didn’t imply the reverse trend progression, as in a short time period there can be contingent rate variations. It is a challenging issue for further research and discussion.
On the other hand, in the first half of 2012 there has been a slight increase (+7,73%) in air carriages from Germany to Russian Federation, whereas the total volume of air transportations from the EU decreased by one third – from 61,000 t in the first half of 2011 to 38,000 t in the same period in 2012. From this perspective, the increase in turnover can be considered as a fundamental breakthrough, as the share of air transportations from Germany in the total air cargo turnover from Europe increased by 10,74% in the first half of 2012.
