IEDT news 26 February 2026 г.
Presentation of IEDT’s Analytical Review “Containers”

On February 26, 2026, a briefing of JSC “Institute for Transport Economics and Development” (IEDT) was held at the media center of Gudok Publishing House, dedicated to the presentation of the second analytical review on container transportation – “Containers”.

Opening the event, IEDT Director General Sergey Valeryevich Rumyantsev noted that the Institute has extensive experience in research and strategic planning in the transport sector, including the development of the General Scheme for the Development of the Russian Railways network, investment analysis, and the creation of proprietary software solutions. The new issue of the digest continues the systematic analysis of global and Russian containerization trends, supplementing it with statistics on Chinese ports, monitoring of the Eurasian logistics market, a review of the largest terminals of the Central Transport Hub, and a comparison of road and rail freight rates.

During the presentation, it was noted that in 2025, 7.6 million TEU (85.3 million tonnes) were transported on the Russian Railways network. At the same time, global container trade is estimated at around 190 million TEU with annual growth of 3–5%. Southeast Asian countries—primarily China—continue to dominate across all segments, from port infrastructure to the production of containers and vessels.

IEDT experts also highlighted the key factors that influenced the market in 2025: volatility in global trade, shifts in logistics flows, pricing pressure from road carriers, and changes in demand structure. Despite a slowdown in certain segments, the long-term trend of containerization growth on the Russian Railways network remains intact.

According to the Institute’s estimates, by 2027 container traffic volumes may return to the 2024 level, and by 2035 increase to 10–12 million TEU. The main growth drivers are expected to be the development of terminal and logistics infrastructure, expansion of the range of containerized goods, and the implementation of digital services, including Internet of Things technologies.