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The results of the first quarter revealed that the rates of vehicle shipment by the Russian Railways network growth exceeded the indicators related to all other cargo shipped by railroad (42% as compared with the previous year). Maxim Bartenev, Director General of OOO Optima TransAuto explained the perspectives of this segment of the cargo transportation market.

- Maxim Yevgenyevich, what trends do you consider to prevail on the market of vehicle railroad shipment?

The demand in the railroad shipment of automobiles has grown considerably upon recovery after crisis and increase in automobile sale. The volume of railroad shipment of automobiles by Optima TransAuto has doubled during the previous year. According to our estimates starting from 2010 the whole rolling stock at the disposal of the Russian companies has been operated. In this connection we can speak about the arising deficit of autorack cars.

- Which fleet is currently used for such shipment?

In most cases we use 11-287 autorack cars for the vehicle shipment. For the off-road vehicles X-5 and X-6 transportation from BMW plant in Kaliningrad we tend to use 11-804 autorack cars of enhanced carrying load.

- Shall the overfilling of the storage facilities with vehicles in the Moscow Region be expected?

As a result of high load and constant increase of transportation volumes our company has converted from a 10-day scheduling to a 20-day one. First of all cargo transportation under long-term contracts with importers and general carriers of automobile brands is provided. For the purpose of the contract implementation assurance we additionally lease out the fleet of autorack cars both of Russian and foreign owners.

- What difficulties does your company face in this market segment? What measures shall be undertaken in order to overcome the problems?

The standard shipment rules relate to light vehicles loading, however the market has already converted to the heavy vehicles transportation. In this relation additional approvals shall be obtained requiring extra time spending. According to our opinion the necessity of such approvals obtaining can be eliminated via the revision of the current rules with consideration of the up-to-date vehicles size and car types.

- What is your forecast concerning vehicle shipment for 2011?

According to our estimates about 2 mln. of vehicles are expected to be sold in the Russian market in 2011. The volume of the vehicle railroad transportation will increase accordingly. Taking into account such factors as the reduction of the autorack cars fleet caused by the crisis and the current shortage of rack cars we can suppose that the temporary car deficit will be preserved both during the current and following years. The volume of the vehicle railroad shipment will depend on the scope of the rolling stock.