Rail Deliveries of Bulk Oil Cargoes From the Caspian Region to Europe

Abstract

This article is a study of the current situation with rail deliveries of bulk oil cargoes from the Caspian region to Europe. It addresses the importance of these deliveries for the European energy security, the salient features of rail transportation of crude oil and refined products in this direction, the main transportation routes, and, finally, describes existing and potential problems with rail deliveries of bulk oil cargoes from the Caspian region to Europe and suggests potential resolutions for these problems. In spite of the serious importance of the topic, the overall number of scientific publications related to it is limited. Another problem is that existing scientific literature sources tend to cover general transportation or geopolitical aspects without paying due attention to the rail transportation, logistical problems, related to the current topic, and how to resolve them. The author attempts to fill these knowledge gaps by collecting, processing, and analysing first-hand information from the main market players. The author concludes the article emphasising the importance of the railway transport for deliveries of bulk oil cargoes and pointing out that several important actions are required, namely the actual introduction of a competitive freight market and transition from transport to logistics corridors, support from governments and railway administrations and proactive position of shippers.

Problems of and prospects for the development of railway infrastructure in Kazakhstan

“…Some of interviewees pointed out that the passive position of shippers who are afraid to annoy the government bodies concerned and the railway administration is counterproductive. This problem was also addressed in [3]. The interviewees then indicated that the national government should understand that the danger of collapse of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, which is not just a commercial company (though its commercial significance is enormous).…”

The influence of COVID-19 on the transition to a more circular economy in oil-exporting countries

“…(ii) Supply chain resilience has been a debate for quite some time, i.e., in [10] it was underlined that "price volatility continues to provide an important incentive -for resourceimporting and -exporting countries alike -to pursue less resource-intensive economic pathways." In this regard, in [45] it was stated that "support from governments… is particularly essential". The pandemic added incentives to shift to a CE.…”