The XI Annual International Conference TRILOGY

The XI Annual International TRILOGY Conference (Transport. Investments. Logistics) took place on 2 June 2021 in Saint Petersburg.

For the first time, the conference was held on the sidelines of the 24^th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The event was organized under support of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. JSCo “RZD” has become a traditional general partner of the conference.

During the conference, the participants discussed the transport strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035, the development of the international transport corridors transit potential and multimodal transport in the Baltic and the Barents/Euro-Arctic regions, the prospects to increase freight traffic in the Northern Sea Route, the development of the Russian and the EU North infrastructure to ensure the freight traffic handling, the development of the ‘green’ transport infrastructure, the reduction of environmental pollution, the digitalization of transport, the formation of a digital transport and logistics environment, the most important investment projects of JSCo “RZD” and the Northern Latitudinal course.

The participants pave paid special attention to ecology. In particular, Viktor Golomolzin, Head of the October Railway – Territorial Branch of JSCo “RZD”, noted that the JSCo “RZD” implemented an Environmental Calculator within the framework of the Year of the Ecology – a service that allows you to see online the decrease of the carbon footprint when choosing railway transportation.

Viktor Salamatov, General Director of the International Trade and Integration Research Center (ITI), stressed the necessity to balance the transportation system, as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus have already done.

All conference participants underlined the importance to join efforts that allow working steadily, especially during difficult, post-covid times. Regarding the pandemic, Gennady Bessonov, General Secretary of the International Coordinating Council for Trans-Eurasian Transportation, noted that e-commerce popularity will increase. “The pandemic affected the way we started to work better”, – Gennady Bessonov said.

The participants discussed the decrease of the coal supply demand and the possible introduction of a tax on the Europe-Asia coal trains. The necessity to generate energy in the Kuzbass instead of supplying coal was stressed as well.

Andrey Keller, Acting Rector of the Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI), designated the extreme importance of the research and educational centers development throughout the Russian Federation, not only in big cities. Other participants confirmed the necessity to ensure the logistics sector with highly qualified and ongoing training of specialists.

Also, all the participants discussed the importance to optimize processes and implement cutting-edge technologies in the transport and logistics industry.

Julia Zhao, Deputy Director of Planning and Development Department of the China International Freight Forwarders Association (CIFA) announced China’s willingness to cooperate and proposed to improve the transport channels and the quality of the customs checks on both sides.

Anton Krivosheev, Chairman of the Transport and Logistics Committee of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, drew attention to the fact that many companies believed automation to be on a par with digitalization, but this is a mistake. Automation is just one side of the digitalization, and it is essential to operate with all the components of this concept to achieve productive work.

The conference participants highlighted the great success of the Russian Federation in the Greater Eurasia formation as well.

The open session of the Joint Coordination Interdepartmental Scientific Council for the Comprehensive Solution of Integral Transport Infrastructure Problems (St. Petersburg Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences) became an important part of the conference business program.

A private tour to the Museum of the Russian Railways was organized for the conference participants at the end of the event.

The conference was attended by the representatives of public authorities of the Russian Federation, industry associations, educational and design institutes, the largest transport and logistics companies, as well as representatives of the Baltic countries, Northern Europe, and China.

All the participants underlined the relevance of the issues discussed at the conference. Recommendations of the conference participants will be sent to the Organizing Committee of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.