Accompanying the Western sanctions against Russia, the world’s major shipping companies, including MSC, Maersk Line, CMA CGM…, announced the suspension of shipping to and from Russia.

Maersk Line – the world’s largest container carrier announces the cessation of freight to and from Russia

The above notice is valid for regions including the Baltics, the Black Sea and the Russian Far East.

According to the Vietnam Trade Branch in the Far East, on March 1, there are many shipping lines such as Maerks Line, MSC, CMA CGM …, which have stopped operating routes to Russia in areas including the Baltics, the Black Sea and the Far East of Russia.

This is a new development regarding Western sanctions against Russia, after the country carried out a “special military operation” and attacked Ukraine.

With the above developments, Vietnamese goods will be almost impossible to export to Russia by sea.

The three largest container shipping lines in the world in bulk stopped transporting goods to and from Russia.

Maersk Line, the world’s largest container carrier in terms of fleet size and cargo capacity, belongs to Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk group, which transports one-fifth of global container traffic and operates container shipping lines to St Petersburg, Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea, Novorossiysk in the Black Sea, and Vladivostok, Vostochny on the east coast of Russia.

In addition to the main transport routes, the Eurasian and transatlantic routes, Maersk Line also offers extensive coverage between South America and Europe as well as to Africa.

On March 1, Maersk Line Corporation announced the temporary suspension of all container transportation to and from Russia.

The world’s second-largest container shipping company headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland) – MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) is operating on more than 200 commercial shipping sea lines, visiting more than 315 ports around the globe.

In a notice to customers, the container carrier MSC said that, as of March 1, it would “temporarily stop shipping all cargo to and from Russia.

This notice is effective for all Russian ports, however the two shipping lines will continue to receive and screen all essential shipping orders such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian aid.

CMA CGM, France’s largest container carrier and the world’s third-largest container carrier, is offering more than 200 shipping routes between 420 ports in more than 150 different countries and territories around the world as well as announcing the suspension of all shipments to and from Russia until further notice due to security concerns.

In addition to the shipping industry, the air transport industry was also strongly affected, because Canada and Europe recently announced the official closure of the airspace with Russia…

Can be replaced by intermodal rail transport

According to a specialist in logistics, when the major container shipping companies in the world announce that they will not receive goods to and from Russia, it will certainly affect Vietnam’s trade with this market, because then Vietnamese goods will not be able to go to Russia and vice versa by sea.

However, the influence will not be large because Russia is in the small medium market group of Vietnamese exports.

However, Vietnamese goods can still reach Russia by rail, departing from Yen Vien (Gia Lam) – Hanoi station on the intermodal route connecting to China’s high-speed rail network through Kazakhstan to enter Russia; since July 2021, Vietnam has started to operate this intermodal railway.

It is dry shipping, but for cold containers such as seafood, if transported by rail, there will be many risks; in Vietnam, there are only about 18 cold containers and only a short distance from Vietnam to China. If going to Russia, there will certainly be quality problems.

Advantages and disadvantages experienced by Vietnamese enterprises when the Russian market is banned

“The fact that major container shipping lines stop shipping goods to Russia will affect import and export operations globally and of course Vietnam is no exception. However, Russia is not a major partner of Vietnam, so the level of influence is not much, and in order to avoid risks, enterprises can completely consider the solution of replacing the Russian market with another market, ”a representative of a business and also a logistics expert told BizLIVE.

According to this expert, it is necessary to determine that Russia is not a major trading partner, if considering the damage and benefits to Vietnam when it is embargoed, Vietnam benefits more than harm.

Firstly, Russia is the major steel export market now that they are banned, Vietnam will be able to export more steel.

Secondly, Russia is a major exporter of fertilizers and in 2021 the price of fertilizers has increased, this year Russia is banned from exporting, which will be an opportunity for Ca Mau and Phu My Dam factories… to replace Russia and increase exports.

However, Vietnamese investors in Russia and Vietnamese processing factories located in Russian territory are affected.

Thirdly, the partners in Russia are also struggling because of the loss of the ruble, if the Russian side demands payment in ruble, they will have losses, and if they sign the contract in USD, it will be difficult because the price of USD in Russia is very high, and the people of this country are struggling due to the war.

These are factors that exporting enterprises need to take into account in addition to the logistic problem.

In general, Russia is only a medium-sized trading partner in Vietnam’s turnover, so the negative impact will not be much, but on the contrary, it will be more beneficial for Vietnam. But if it is the US market, it is very different; if this market has problems, it will greatly affect Vietnam’s economy, because the US is the first export market of Vietnam, especially important for agricultural, forestry and aquatic products.

Source: Nhip song Kinh te