According to operational data, Ukrainian Railways transported 12.035 million tons of cargo in September 2023 in all modes, which is 3% more than in the same period of 2022.
The overall increase in transportation was due to an increase in the volume of cargo transportation in domestic traffic by 35.5% or up to 7.896 million tons.
In terms of transportation volume, construction materials are leading: in the overall volume, their transportation increased by 77.3% in September 2023 compared to September 2022, reaching 3.310 million tons, and in domestic transportation, it increased by 88% to 3.087 million tons.
"September cargo transportation showed a slight increase in the overall volume, but due to objective reasons, we have negative indicators in export shipments, especially in the transportation of strategically important grain cargo," said Vyacheslav Yeromin, a member of the board of Ukrainian Railways.
Railway transportation of exports decreased by 31.2% in September 2023 compared to September 2022, reaching 3.578 million tons. The export of grain cargo by rail decreased by almost threefold, down to 1.072 million tons.
At the same time, in September of the current year, there was a growth in the export transportation of iron and manganese ore, increasing by 50.5% to reach 1.453 million tons.
Import cargo transportation by rail in September of the current year amounted to 518.5 thousand tons, which is 18% less than in September 2022, while transit transportation reached 43.2 thousand tons, nearly 2.3 times higher.
Most major exporters of both agricultural and industrial products see the potential for increasing cargo flows, according to the Center for Transport Strategies. For example, "Metinvest" notes that, considering the diversification of transportation structures towards European ports, monthly shipments from January to July 2023 increased by 52% compared to April to December 2022. This increase is primarily due to the higher volume of metal transportation, which grew by 98%. Additionally, starting from April 2023, the company began exporting coal and iron ore concentrate through northern European ports. The company plans to further increase shipments in the fourth quarter of the current year.
There are 15 railway crossing points across the state border with the countries of the European Union, 7 of them with Poland. In different periods, the queue for crossing points can reach 10-15 days.
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