AsianFin -- Russia has been holding freight shipments from China bound for Europe via the China-Europe Railway Express, with some cargo stranded for nearly three months, according to logistics industry sources.
Shipments detained by Russian authorities include goods intended for the European market, many of which are now significantly delayed. Liu Zan, general manager of Bondatrans Logistics (Hunan) Co., told Caixin that some clients’ goods, including Christmas clothing, remain stuck in Russia, even though the holiday season has long passed.
"Since late October 2024, our company has seen containers transiting through Russia being detained," Liu said, adding that their operations, which focus on full-container and less-than-container load services on the China-Europe railway, have been heavily impacted. To date, around 70 containers from Liu’s company are affected.
The delays pose significant challenges for businesses relying on the efficiency of the railway link, a critical trade route connecting China with Europe. No official explanation has been provided by Russian authorities regarding the detentions.
This move follows a resolution passed by the Russian government in October of last year, which established a list of prohibited goods for transit through Russia.
The ban primarily targets dual-use items—products that can serve both civilian and military purposes. Any goods found on the embargo list are subject to seizure and confiscation.
In recent weeks, Russian authorities have initiated thorough checks at various railway stations across the country, targeting all China-Europe freight trains transiting through Russian territory.
The inspections is intended to ensure that containers do not carry any prohibited items. However, this has led to significant delays and a backlog of containers, severely impacting the efficiency of rail freight services from China to Europe via Russia.
Some foreign trade professionals have indicated that retail goods such as men's jackets are also under scrutiny, as Russian authorities believe these items could have dual-use potential (i.e., both civilian and military applications).
As per the latest information, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries held a meeting on January 9, which resulted in the release of some containers. However, a large number of containers remain stranded in Smolensk, located about 90 miles from the Belarusian border.
Another foreign trade professional said "We had a shipment that departed from China on October 22 and has been stuck there since November 4. At that time, no one anticipated that Russia would halt all trains to inspect the goods."
Faced with this uncertainty, many foreign trade companies have started shifting to the southern route, the "Trans-Caspian International Transport Route," which runs from China through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, finally reaching Europe, thereby bypassing Russia.
However, this route is relatively complex, traversing multiple countries, and has become unsafe due to the "Red Sea crisis."
The Russian customs department recently announced that they had seized a batch of containers containing Ukrainian military uniforms. Ignatiev, head of the Chita Customs, stated that the containers with Ukrainian military uniforms were seized at the Zabaikalsk railway checkpoint. The clothing bore Ukrainian military insignia, but the declared destination of the goods was Poland.
On October 15, 2024, the Russian federal government passed Resolution No. 1374. This resolution supplements and revises the content of Resolution No. 313 issued on March 9, 2022. Together, these two resolutions outline a list of goods prohibited from transiting through Russian territory.
Based on the latest embargo list, we have compiled some common prohibited items for your reference, such as engines or electric motors, converters, telescopes, integrated circuits, clothing and footwear (special, tactical, camouflage), rangefinders, radar equipment, and more.
“If China had really provided military supplies to Russia, the situation on the battleground would not have been where it is now,” China’s ambassador Geng Shuang told the UN Security Council during a briefing over Ukraine last week in New York.