Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure has increased freight rates by 70%

At the suggestion of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has increased tariffs for transportation of all types of cargo by 70% from July 1. Due to this tariff increase, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to receive an additional UAH 11 billion by the end of this year, according to Ministry’s order №441 Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The head of the Ministry of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov signed order №441 “On Amendments to the Coefficients Applicable to the Tariffs of the Collection of Tariffs for Carriage of Goods by Rail within Ukraine and Related Services” on June 22. On June 24, it was registered in the Ministry of Justice.

In contrast to several previous increases in freight tariffs, the coefficients have been increased equally – by 70% – for all 20 types of cargo. Accroding to CTS, the tariffs increased from June 29.

Ukrzaliznytsia calls the increase in freight tariffs «planned indexation», but such a decision was not in UZ’s financial plan for 2022.

Earlier GMK Center reported that since the beginning of 2022, the Ministry of Infrastructure has increased by 9% the tariffs for the transportation of a group of goods of the 1st tariff class by rail. Earlier, from August 17, 2021, tariffs for cargo transportation of the group of goods of the 1st and 2nd tariff classes by 8% were increased, and from January 2022 – by 20.4% and 6.5%, respectively. At the time, Ukrzaliznytsia estimated additional revenues from tariff increases at UAH 2 billion in 2021, and UAH 10 billion in 2022.

In May 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia maintained cargo transportation at the level of the previous month – 9.15 million tons. Compared to May 2021, rail freight transportation decreased by 65.5%. In January-May 2022, UZ transported 74.2 million tons of cargo, which is 39.2% less than in the same period last year.