Economic aspects of using open top containers for coal transportation

Modern requirements for the organization of the transportation process depend on technological and infrastructural aspects. Traditional approaches to regulating car flows, including using methods to minimize empty runs of rolling stock, lead to the loss of profitable options for JSC Russian Railways to interact with customers in terms of organizing exports and imports with subsequent sale of these goods (products) in Russia. The technology of transporting coal in «Open Top» containers with back loading with imported cargo has advantages arising from foreign and domestic experience in implementing such transportation. This article focuses on the economic aspects of the technology under consideration, including reflecting the specifics and prospects for the development of container transportation of coal. A comparative analysis of economic indicators for several options for transporting coal is performed. For customers of railway transport and JSC Russian Railways, the feasibility of organizing freight transportation in «Open Top» containers with the formation of closed routes with back loading with imported cargo to an intermediate station is substantiated. It is noted that the savings of the closed ring route of coal and anhydrous calcium chloride in containers reach from 30% to 65% compared to the use of universal gondola cars. Given the current conditions of congestion of the railway infrastructure, the use of «Open Top» containers for the transportation of various goods is a key advantage of ring routes. This is important to consider when developing export-import relations with friendly countries.