The factories of Japanese automakers in St. Petersburg are not getting components in Kommersant article

Japanese automakers are experiencing problems with the supply of components to their plants in St. Petersburg. The thing is that at the request of Rospotrebnadzor all Japanese goods at the customs began to be intensively checked for radiation levels. The reason for the intensified control is not clear. The agency assures that there have been no cases of exceeding the standards since 2018, and Japanese goods are monitored for a long time. Meanwhile, Toyota and Nissan see a real threat to stop their production lines. The Federal Customs Service on the basis of a letter from Rospotrebnadzor on September 30 increased control of products from some countries, including all goods from Japan (Kommersant has the documents). The reason was "exceeding of maximum activity levels of radionuclides. Now, Kommersant sources say, all deliveries of Japanese goods to Russia must undergo sanitary-quarantine control (SQC) with participation of Rospotrebnadzor inspectors. At a number of customs points the SQC is carried out too slowly, and this has led to accumulation of containers, which may affect Japanese car companies. Toyota, which has a plant in St. Petersburg, told Kommersant that the situation creates risks for uninterrupted car production. "At the moment we are observing delays in customs clearance of components for production made by us and our suppliers in Japan," they said. The company has appealed "to the relevant authorities and looks forward to a prompt reaction on their part. Nissan said "Kommersant" that it had sent official letters to the Baltic customs and Rospotrebnadzor with a request to clarify new requirements and establish an effective procedure for checking to avoid substantial losses for the company. Nissan added that in the absence of timely action by the authorities they see the risk of stopping production for an indefinite period. The Committee for Industrial Policy, Innovation and Trade of St. Petersburg told Kommersant that they had received information from the St. Petersburg plants of Japanese concerns that they had encountered delays in the delivery of the necessary parts from Japan. "The situation is being worked out promptly with the authorities authorized to solve the issue. We expect that in the near future a decision will be made to ensure uninterrupted supply of auto parts," they concluded. In the Ministry of Industry and Trade they "do not have the text of Rospotrebnadzor's appeal. But they say that "increase of the time of customs clearance may negatively affect the production processes. The logistics company FM Logistic also knows about the tightening of rules. "We encountered this problem on November 1, when we received a request from the customs authority for documents (bill of lading) with a mark of passage of the SCC for goods produced in Japan, for one of our clients," - said "Kommersant" in the company. FM Logistic notes that they do not have such a large pool of customers who import goods from Japan, but they know from partners that many shipments are indeed blocked: "Especially affected manufacturers who can not get access to their cargo. It is likely that if the situation continues, they will face a shortage of components." Isuzu, which operates through the port of Vladivostok, also told about the tightened control. Isuzu says that the new recommendations have in some cases led to longer delivery times for components to the plant in Ulyanovsk, but that this "has not caused serious disruption and stoppage of production". Mazda Sollers also has no failures in customs clearance: "All deliveries to the plant are promptly subjected to a set of customs procedures, radiation control measures are applied, but it does not take much time. Japan's Hitachi said deliveries are slightly delayed, "but more because of the general congestion of the ports" due to the approach of the New Year. Rospotrebnadzor told Kommersant that they conduct radiation control of cargoes coming from Japan after the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant, and since 2018 they have not established any new facts of "increase of radiation background and radionuclide content in environmental objects that can harm public health." The agency noted that it had not received any complaints about delayed shipments. In St. Petersburg department of Rospotrebnadzor confirmed that the letter on the basis of which the Federal Customs Service strengthened control was sent to the customs on September, 30: the list included goods from Ukraine, dairy products, fresh and canned fish from Lithuania and other products, including arriving from Japan. The Rospotrebnadzor department noted that goods from Japan had been on the list of goods subject to intensified control since March 2018. The St. Petersburg and Vyborg customs informed Kommersant that all goods are being processed, there are no queues and no rush. The Baltic customs, as well as the North-West customs office did not answer the Kommersant's request. Customs operations with regard to products subject to CCS (in accordance with the letter of Rospotrebnadzor) are running smoothly, said Ruslan Davydov, the first deputy head of FCS. In his opinion, neither these nor other measures introduced as part of other types of state control are critical. "The determining factor is the currently observed reversal of the supply chains of goods from the traditional southern sea directions to the ports of the Far East for further delivery to Europe by rail. The serious infrastructural limitations existing today, the critical workload of cargo processing and storage capacities in seaports - these are the things that significantly impede further increase of supplies," he believes.