The owner of Railgo became a co -owner of a grain terminal
Rakhman Khalilov, the owner of the Railgo oil carrier carrier, became a co -owner of a company that controls the Taganrog grain terminal with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year. This business today has difficulties due to reducing grain export. And in the future, Stevidors are unlikely to be able to return to the record tariffs of 2023 due to an increase in port capacities, analysts believe.
Rakhman Khalilov, the son of the former Vice President Lukoil and Slavneft, Lucener Khalilov, received 30% EURASIA TRADING LLC, which controls the Taganrog grain terminal (TZT), follows the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. The owner of another 10% was Roman Kurdyumov – a member of the Railgo board, follows from the reporting of this company. Another 60% directly and through Eurasia-Logistiki LLC is owned by Ilya Zhelnov. Railgo and Eurasia Trading did not provide a comment.
The power of TZT is 1.2 million tons of grain per year. In 2021, the company estimated its share of grain transshipment among small ports of the Azovo-Black Sea basin (ACB) about 19%. Until mid-2024, TZT was owned by the structures of the former top manager Lukoil Alexander Rappoport. And last summer, the owner of the asset was Ilya Zhelnov (see “Kommersant” of July 26, 2024). The transaction value was then estimated at 3.5 billion rubles. taking into account the debt.
According to Morzentr Tek, in the first quarter of 2025 the terminal shipped 76.8 thousand tons of grain, which is 70.5% less than a year earlier, against the background of a total reduction in grain export. “SOECON” predicts the export of wheat from the Russian Federation according to the results of the season (from July 2024 to June 2025) at 40.7 million tons against 52.4 million tons seasoned earlier. One of the largest grain terminals of the Russian Federation – the Novorossiysk Combine of Bakes (NKHP) – reduced export by 1.5 times in the first ten months of the season.
A decrease in grain export in 2025 will negatively affect the revenue of terminals operators, Sbercib analysts in the NKHP review warned. In addition, they pointed out, in the next five years, the capacity of grain transshipment in the ACB should grow by 40%, to 93 million tons, according to port plans. And even if the Russian Federation again shows a new crop record, there will be no deficiency of transshipment capacities and the tariffs of Stevidors are unlikely to return to the maximums of 2023, the review was noted. In the NKHP, for example, they specified in Sbercib, tariffs in 2025 can decrease by 20% and then slowly recover.
The Director of the “Council of Ministers” Andrei Sizov indicates that the conjuncture for grain terminals operators has recently deteriorated: there are more power capacities, the volumes due to a decrease in the crop are less and exports at current prices are unprofitable. For small ports of the ACB, the expert continues, this season the situation was additionally complicated due to the restrictions on wheat imports introduced by Turkey. Usually, the country, according to him, largely bought grain in small vessels from the Sea of Azov. According to the results of the first half of the season, delivery to Turkey decreased by 1.9 times, to 2.28 million tons, which became a minimum from the 2016/17 season, according to Rusagrotrans. The restrictions on the last June, Türkiye softened in March this year.
Dmitry Rilko, CEO of the Institute of Conjuncture of the Agrarian Market, says that the role of small ACH ports in the export of grain remains high while the raid transshipment exists and these ports are a competitive alternative to five deep -sea terminals in the Black Sea. According to him, the current situation with grain export in the market is perceived as temporary difficulties and, with a new good harvest, the loading of terminals will grow again. The interlocutor “Kommersant” in the market notes that the loading of small terminals of the ACH can additionally maintain grain from new regions.
