MINSK, 1 July (BelTA) - In Belarus, transit container traffic has increased during the pandemic, Belarus' Deputy Prime Vladimir Kukharev said as he met with the personnel of OAO Avtosila transport services company, BelTA has learned.
“Coronavirus has spread throughout the world. Only by joint efforts can we overcome the crisis that has hit the economy in the first place. Most of the world's countries remain closed, businesses are not fully operational, and we have seen a significant decrease in the volume of transport services. This is the biggest problem for the transport industry, because both freight and passenger transport has decreased,” Vladimir Kukharev noted.
Over the past three months, international passenger traffic has been completely stopped, and domestic passenger traffic has also shrunk significantly. “Nevertheless, the situation with freight traffic has started to improve. In June we saw some positive changes. Container traffic has started flowing. Therefore we saw an increase in the transit container traffic flow in the country. Gradually, European countries have begun to reopen. Businesses, organizations and shopping centers began to work in Russia. Therefore, we think that within a month or two the situation will begin to stabilize,” Vladimir Kukharev noted.
The deputy prime minister expressed the opinion that at such a difficult time for all it is necessary to look for alternative ways to stabilize the situation. “The transport industry needs to look for new directions, actively search for new customers, because in Europe many transport companies have started to close down. Due to the shortage of transport services, we should try to restore the volume of our freight traffic," he said.
Vladimir Kukharev also noted that there are a number of problems in the aviation sector. “Belavia's passenger traffic has decreased by almost 90%. But now new flights are launched, a number of countries have reopened for tourists. We have started flying to Albania, and then to Turkey and Egypt. I think the passenger flow will be restored," Vladimir Kukharev noted.