“Photo by UNIAN The American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) called on the Cabinet of Ministers to prevent an increase in state-regulated tariffs for rail freight transportation. This is stated in the official notification. “Member companies…”, — write: www.unian.ua
Photo by UNIANThe American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) called on the Cabinet to prevent an increase in state-regulated rates for rail freight transportation. This is stated in the official notification.“Member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (the Chamber) do not support the 37% increase in state-regulated tariffs for rail freight transportation, approved by the Supervisory Board of Ukrzaliznytsia, because this decision may lead to the shutdown of strategic enterprises, in particular companies of the mining and metallurgical complex.” – said in the message.
ACC also called on the government to take into account that simultaneously with the increase in tariffs for cargo transportation, JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” also increases the cost of works and services related to transportation, as well as rates for the use of wagons (containers). Such a decision will create significant pressure on the economy of Ukraine, and additional logistics costs for business will exceed UAH 1.4 billion per year, which will significantly reduce the competitiveness of Ukrainian products and limit the opportunities to enter export markets.
“The decrease in the volume of industrial production will have a negative effect on JSC Ukrzaliznytsia itself, since the only source of its income is the shippers, who will be forced to reduce the volume of transportation due to excessive tariff burden. Therefore, the member companies of the Chamber call on the Government of Ukraine not to allow an increase in state-regulated tariffs and regular the increase in the cost of rail freight transportation”, – sums up in the message of ACC.
Earlier, the European Business Association spoke against Ukrzaliznytsia’s intention to raise freight rates: there they reminded that before that the UZ immediately raised tariffs by 70%, as a result of which the cost of transporting coal, ore and limestone increased by 140%, metal – by 70%, and grain – by 65%. And because of this, the company lost part of the cargo flow, which switched to road transport. The association also called on the Cabinet of Ministers not to support the increase in freight tariffs – because businesses in Ukraine are already closing due to problems in the energy sector and a shortage of personnel. The next increase in the cost of logistics will only speed up these processes.