UTLC ERA

UTLC was registered by the Russian, Belarusian, and Kazakhstan National Railways on November 13, 2014. The company was established to develop the transit potential and to increase traffic volumes along the East-West axis using the railway networks of the member countries by implementing high-tech logistics services that require an aligned policy to be adopted by railways and regulatory authorities in the 1,520 mm gauge territory.

The Meeting of Shareholders of the United Transportation and Logistics Company (UTLC) elected First Vice President Alexey Grom as the Company President.

Effective alignment of the Silk Road Economic Belt with the Eurasian Economic Union remained a priority for UTLC. In 2017, the company’s management proposed a number of initiatives, including those at the top management level, to address the issues that facilitate optimization of the transportation and logistics processes aimed at creating a positive image and enhancing cargo owners’ loyalty to Trans-Eurasian rail transportation.

In 2018, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, announced his May Decrees, giving new impetus to Russia’s key industries. One of the highlights in the President’s announcement was the development of the West-East and North-South transport corridors for cargo delivery, including shorter time of container traffic by rail, and a fourfold increase in the rail transit container traffic by 2024.
At the same time, the President of Kazakhstan outlined the strategic goals for development of transit, infrastructure, and cooperation with the nearest neighbors, specifically the EAEU states. The strategy pursued by the Republic of Belarus, which was repeatedly emphasized by President Alexander Lukashenko, also envisages multiple development areas connected with transit, since Belarus serves as a connecting link between Europe and the countries of the Former Soviet Union.

The Company took a strong lead in the Eurasian rail transit traffic market and continued with its record-breaking performance in terms of both volumes and quality. At the end of 2019, the container traffic volume in UTLC ERA services exceeded 333,000 TEUs. One third of the journey to “One Million Containers” is completed.

Against the background of the limitations affecting other means of transport, consignors turned to the rail transport, which boosted the container traffic development. The traditional role of railway transport in the global supply chains as an addition to sea transport has changed.

The breakthrough growth of the rail container transit continued in 2021 with its development established as a strategic objective of UTLC ERA. The traffic volume increase and the cargo range and service geography expansion were successfully achieved.
The Company made up 82% of the total container transit volume in the  China–Europe–China service in 2021.

Being in great demand, China-Europe-China transit transportation still remains the key route in UTLC ERA services. However, in 2022 UTLC ERA expanded its geographical scope and actively developed export transportation services from Belarus and Russia to China as well as import transportation services from China to Russia.

In 2023, UTLC ERA operations were marked by peerless business process flexibility, high volume and speed of decision making, significant changes in freight structure that made the company able to preserve its total freight volume and its leading position in the Trans-Eurasian transit market.

The primary result in 2024 is that we were able to reach an historic maximum number
of shipments at UTLC ERA: 746,000 TEUs, and the volume of international transit shipments during 10 years of the Company operation rose by almost 20 times!