March 1998

by Alexander Gordienko

The Nizhny Novgorod Oblast has one of the most well-developed and heavily used regional transportation systems in Russia. The oblast is linked to many other Russian regions, the rest of the NIS, and numerous foreign countries via rail, water, road, and air. U.S. companies doing business in the oblast, which is one of Russia's most important regions economically, have a variety of options for transporting goods.

Air Transport
Domestic Russian and international air carriers link Nizhny Novgorod to many Russian cities, other NIS countries, and numerous international destinations. Lufthansa operates three international flights per week between Nizhny Novgorod and Frankfurt, with onward connections from Nizhny Novgorod to the Russian city of Samara. The main local air carrier is Nizhny Novgorod Airlines, which is a successor to the former Soviet national carrier Aeroflot. The airline provides domestic flights to many Russian cities, as well as service to other NIS countries and charter flights to some Asian countries. This airline moves passengers and cargo with aging Soviet-era aircraft now considered obsolete and lacks the funds to replace or refurbish them. Transaero, one of Russia's leading airlines, has an office in Nizhny Novgorod, although it does not have regularly scheduled service at this time.

The regional government and the management of the Nizhny Novgorod airport have plans to modernize and transform the facility into a state-of-the art international passenger and freight terminal. The value of this project has been estimated at $35 million.

Road Network
There are 15,700 kilometers of federal and regional roads and highways in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, 95 percent of which are paved. Two Russian major federal arteries cross the oblast: the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod-Saransk highways. Approximately 5,000 kilometers of roads have been built or rebuilt in the past five years.

Freight between the United States and Nizhny Novgorod via Western European ports may be delivered by truck using a number of regional Nizhny Novgorod trucking companies. The local company Transinvest-NN offers ground transport cargo services from Nizhny Novgorod to and from all countries of Western Europe, as well as freight forwarding to other destinations within the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and throughout Russia and the NIS. Poliavtotrans delivers freight from the Nizhny Novgorod region to Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, and Eastern Europe. It also serves Russian clients in the Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, and Samara oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Mari-El. VolgaWestTrans provides international freight forwarding services by truck to Western Europe and Scandinavia. This firm belongs to a number of Russian and international freight-forwarding and truck-transportation associations.

Rail, Inland Waterways
Most of the Nizhny Novgorod region's 1,234-kilometer rail network is electrically powered. The regional railroad company, Gorky Railroad, is regarded as one of the best in Russia in terms of timely transportation of passengers and cargo. The Transportation Center of the Gorky Railroad offers consulting services to shippers and freight forwarders in developing both domestic and international rail itineraries, as well as in arranging local delivery of cargo in the oblast.

The Nizhny Novgorod Oblast has 1,039 kilometers of internal waterways, with access to the Baltic, White, Black, and Caspian seas and the Sea of Azov. The two main waterways are the Volga and Oka rivers. In 1994, the Soviet-era Volga River Steamship Company was privatized and divided into a number of independent entities, including three shipping companies and 25 fleet-service providers. One successor company, the Volga Steamship Line, ships freight between St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. The annual navigation season runs from the middle of May until late October.

Customs
The Nizhny Novgorod Customs Office is structured as a central office with six subsidiary checkpoints at the busiest and most important transportation nodes in the oblast: the Nizhny Novgorod railroad station, the airport, the Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka (exhibition center), the Gorky Automobile Factory (GAZ), and the towns of Kstovo and Pravdinsk. The Nizhny Novgorod Customs Office reports to the Federal Customs Service in Moscow.

Imports from foreign countries, including the United States, can be customs-cleared in Nizhny Novgorod if the recipient company of the shipment is registered in the oblast. The recipient of a shipment subject to customs duty must contact the customs office no later than 30 minutes after the shipment's arrival in Nizhny Novgorod. The shipment must clear customs within 15 days of arrival. Meetings with customs officials must be arranged in advance and must take place either in the central customs office or at a customs checkpoint. No advice is given by phone. For more information on transportation in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, visit BISNIS Online www.mac.doc.gov/bisnis/country/980126nn.htm.

Alexander Gordienko works for BISNIS at the American Business Center Nizhny Novgorod.

This report is provided courtesy of the Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS)