C O M PA N Y PR O FI L E Team IWM, left to right: Victoria Chub; Rates Department Manager Ivan Zotov; and Logistics Manager Fedor Bakulov STAYING THE DISTANCE The Russian business boom of the 1990s gave IWM a strong start, but market changes and challenges since have demanded skill and stamina from the ambitious mover to keep on going. Victoria Chub, Managing Director of IWM which has affiliated offices in St Petersburg, Moscow and Yuhzno-Sakhalinsk talks to FIDI Focus about the journey so far VICTORIA CHUB, IWM MANAGING DIRECTOR 70 FF301 Q2 21 pp70-71 profile.indd 70 FF: What are the characteristics of the Russian moving market? Victoria Chub (VC): The Russian moving market is young compared with the European or US markets. Moving and relocation services in the way we understand them today started in the mid1990s, when international corporations began to be welcomed to the Russian market. IWM began full operations in Moscow in 1996, with a few contracts. By the end of 1997, beginning of 1998, the moving industry had started to boom because of the big multinationals who were beginning operations in Russia and needed to move managers to the country to set up businesses that were compliant with their values, corporate culture and knowledge. FF: How has the Russian moving industry evolved over the past 10 years? VC: The turnover for the international moving business started to slow down for several reasons: Since July 2010, the import of household goods and personal effects is not duty free. The amount 4 per kg - is substantial, and multinationals have reviewed their relocation policies and squeezed their allowances. By 2012, our data showed that the number of moves into Russia of more than 30m3 dropped to 30 per cent; More and more Russian specialists and managers started to replace expats, and this is still an ongoing trend. It is much more cost-effective to employ local managers than to bring an expat and their family into the market. Today, there is a trend for Russian WWW. F I D I FOC U S . OR G 09/03/2021 10:49