The Soyuzcement organization, which includes leading players in the industry, appealed to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation with a request to check the validity of spring traffic restrictions on the transportation of cement on roads in the regions of Russia. The company’s press service told socialbites.ca about this.
We are talking about the ban on the passage of heavy vehicles on highways, which the regions traditionally impose for up to 30 days in April – June. Soyuzcement suggested that such restrictions be imposed only if there are justifications and in accordance with all prohibition procedures. The organization asked the Ministry of Transport to send an appeal on this issue to the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
“Road transportation is the main way cement is delivered to consumers. According to the results of the analysis of the Russian Federation cement market, it was noted that the share provided by road transportation in 2023 increased to 61% and reached 39.8 million tons. “In the last few years, an increasing trend in the share of cement in road transport has been observed,” explained the company’s press service.
He added that approximately 40% of the cargo shipped by the cement industry by rail is delivered to its final destinations by road (excluding transportation in the form of concrete).
Since 2018, by decision of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, spring restrictions on the movement of heavy trucks on federal roads have not been introduced. Subjects of the Russian Federation independently make decisions regarding traffic restrictions on highways of regional or intermunicipal importance.
Soyuzcement received a statement from the Ministry of Transport that prohibition decisions should be made for each road based on measurements of actual temperature, depth of soil freezing and detours on the road. At the same time, seasonal bans on the travel of heavy vehicles, including cement trucks, on regional roads have been introduced in many constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and regional authorities often neglect the highway inspection procedure, the union’s press service explained. . As a result, due to logistics constraints in the spring, consumers are not always able to stock up on cement before the start of the high construction season, the press service noted.
“If restrictions on vehicle movements are lifted in April and May, this could lead to an increase in cement supplies by 1.75 million tonnes, corresponding to 15% of cement consumption in this period. And this is exactly the volume that is missing at the peak of the construction season. As a rule, housing developers experience local seasonal shortages of cement. 1.75 million tonnes of cement on an annual basis corresponds to 2.7% of consumption in 2023,” said Vladimir Guz, managing partner of consulting company SMPRO.
According to him, for developers this means a significant amount of cement, which will allow them to build about 8 million square meters. meters of housing per year.
Soyuzcement in 2023 applied To the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation regarding the ban.