Russia ships metal via the Arctic to evade Ukrainian strikes

{"text":[[{"start":11.24,"text":"Russia will start to export pig iron from its Arctic port of Murmansk for the first time in 30 years as it reroutes cargoes away from Ukrainian strikes in the Black Sea."}],[{"start":21.92,"text":"A video on the port’s Telegram channel on Thursday showed pig iron being loaded, with a post reading that “work is in full swing at the Murmansk port: changes to logistics in southern Russia have led to a sharp increase in cargo volumes here”."}],[{"start":35.5,"text":"The post follows an announcement by the port on October 14 that it had started handling pig iron for the first time since 1996. The ship is likely to head for Turkey as imports of Russian pig iron into the EU have been banned since January 1 this year."}],[{"start":52.62,"text":"Pig iron is a critical material for the steel and cast iron industries. Russia and Ukraine are the world’s largest exporters of pig iron after Brazil."}],[{"start":62.6,"text":"More than 180 wagons carried the metal from the Urals ready for a trial shipment of 65,000 tonnes to the Mediterranean, the port said. The journey is about 10 days longer than shipping from the Black Sea, making it much more expensive."}],[{"start":77.84,"text":"The vast increase in journey time has become a necessary challenge for Russian exporters, whose business has been upended by relentless strikes on shipping in the Black Sea since the summer."}],[{"start":88.56,"text":"Both Ukraine and Russia have targeted vessels in increasingly deadly strikes as the two sides seek to disrupt each other’s critical trade routes. There have been almost 700 strikes in the Black Sea so far this year, according to maritime security company Ambrey."}],[{"start":103.14,"text":"Ambrey analyst Tomas Alexa said the “cadence of the operations” in the summer by both sides was “unprecedented”, although Russia is now responsible for the majority of strikes in the Black Sea, according to maritime security experts."}],[{"start":116.68,"text":"In order to protect its exports, Russia has largely rerouted commodity exports through its Baltic ports, but with those now becoming congested, cargoes have been forced further afield."}],[{"start":127.38,"text":"“It speaks volumes to the pressures Russians are facing in Black Sea, diverting to Murmansk and to the Baltics,” Alexa said."}],[{"start":134.56,"text":"The last shipment of pig iron out of Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was on July 31."}],[{"start":139.96,"text":"Murmansk, which sits close to northern Finland within the Arctic Circle, has traditionally been an export hub for oil shipments but has more recently diversified into metals and grains, for which it also plans to start exports."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":152.82,"text":"October was the fourth-highest month for exports out of the port in the past two years, after the three summer months when Ukraine’s campaign against Russian shipping was at its most intense, according to commodities platform Kpler."}],[{"start":165.76,"text":"For the pig iron cargoes, the port had to manufacture special buckets, it said in a statement, while its handling equipment was fitted with electromagnets."}],[{"start":174.76,"text":"“Following the pilot operation, the parties will consider moving to regular shipments,” the port said."}],[{"start":180.64,"text":"Austin Barnes, metals analyst at the pricing agency Argus, said that freight rates from Murmansk to Turkey were almost double what they were from the Black Sea. “Some Russian producers are paying $100/t more than they were before just to get material to their buyers across rail and ship,” he said."}],[{"start":198.1,"text":"The rerouting of cargoes is creating major bottlenecks on Russia’s railways, which are operated by state-owned monopoly Russian Railways (RZD)."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":206.28,"text":"Yörük Işık, a shipping analyst in Istanbul, said the challenges showed “how desperate Russia is to find alternatives. In practice it’s very difficult because of the infrastructure difficulties . . . you cannot switch these logistical lines so fast.”"}],[{"start":220.52,"text":"Ukraine’s metal exports have also been heavily impacted by Russian strikes on vessels serving its Black Sea ports."}],[{"start":227.08,"text":"Its Black Sea steel loadings declined sharply in the third quarter. Volumes fell 65 per cent year-on-year, according to maritime data platform Signal."}],[{"start":240.56,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794046229_7065.mp3"}