“He also noted that during the war, UZ freight rates for metallurgists more than doubled.”, — write: www.unian.ua
He also noted that during the war, UZ freight rates for metallurgists more than doubled.
Tariffs for cargo transportation should be fair and not the same for everyone, says CEO of Metinvest Ryzhenkov / Metinvest photoThe initiative of Ukrzaliznytsia to “harmonize” tariffs for freight transportation does not have any logic, because it costs more to transport a ton of grain for UZ than a ton of ore. Accordingly, the tariff for these transportations should be different. This was stated by the general director of Metinvest Yuriy Ryzhenkov.“Transportation of ore is transportation by direct route train from point A to point B, i.e. from the plant to the port. At the same time, GZK forms the route train itself, and UZ only has to provide a large mainline locomotive and its own infrastructure – a track. And grain transportation is much more expensive operation for UZ: the train needs to be collected by small locomotives from different elevators at different railway stations, before taking it to the port. That is, the costs of “Ukrzaliznytsia” for the delivery of a comparable amount of grain are much higher than for ore,” says Ryzhenkov.
He also noted that during the war, UZ freight rates for metallurgists more than doubled. Currently, logistics accounts for 40% of the cost of production, so another increase in the railway tariff will reduce its competitiveness.
“A full-fledged reform of Ukrzaliznytsia is needed, that is, its division into several independent companies – infrastructure, traction, passenger. Each of these companies must set its own transparent tariffs for its services. An independent regulator must also be created, as in the energy market. So that this regulator was the arbiter between business and UZ in terms of tariffs for monopoly services. Because now there is a railway monopolist who can offer any tariffs, and no one can check how justified they are,” Ryzhenkov summarized.
As you know, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 57,740,000 tons of cargo for export in January–August 2024, which is 65.8% more than in the same period last year. This enabled the company to obtain a profit of more than 3 billion hryvnias in six months.
At the same time, the head of UZ Yevhen Lyashchenko said that the company expects losses at the end of the year, and initiated another increase in cargo tariffs. Instead, the EBA said that UZ should focus on growing its freight base and reducing costs (such as operating costs), which have increased significantly in the recent period, and refrain from increasing tariffs.