Ukrzaliznytsia reports first losses of the year
Source: Ukrzaliznytsia
Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s state railway company, has reported financial losses for the first time in 2024. Despite enhancing operational efficiency over the past year, the company’s performance took a downturn in July.
The company blames higher energy prices, hryvnia’s weakening and the ‘worsening structure of cargo’.
The losses though are largely linked to a surge in low-margin cargo, such as iron and manganese ore, which saw a 65% increase compared to July 2023. The revenue from these shipments has failed to cover transportation costs.
In July 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia transported a total of 13.6 million tons of cargo, marking a 12% rise from the previous year. The cargo breakdown was:
- Domestic: 6.4 million tons (-22% year-over-year)
- Export: 6.4 million tons (+93% year-over-year)
- Import: 746,000 tons (+39% year-over-year)
The company is considering aligning transportation costs across different tariff classes as a potential solution. They argue that infrastructure costs are uniform for all cargo types, suggesting that the current cost disparities are economically unjustified.
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