Ukrainian Railways submitted proposals for the unification of tariffs for cargo transportation

The increase in tariffs for rail transportation will negatively affect the entire industry, especially the export of ore

Ukrainian Railways (UZ) provided proposals to the Ministry of Infrastructure on unification of tariffs for freight transportation.

This was announced by Deputy Director of the Department of Transportation Technology and Commercial Work of UZ Valery Tkachev on Channel 7.

The railway operator explains the initiatives by the intention to simplify the calculation of the cost of transportation and eliminate the large disproportion between the cost of transportation of different classes of goods.

According to Tkachev, UZ proposed a new edition of the tariff collection, and is waiting for the decision of the relevant department. Then everything will be submitted for public discussion and within a month there will be a discussion of these initiatives.

It is known that unification will most affect the cost of transportation of mineral materials, coal and ore, partly – on grain.

«There will be an increase in tariffs for construction materials. Low-margin goods that are transported at a loss. There will also be a slight correlation in the transportation of ore, coal. A small correlation on grain cargoes is possible. And this is only due to the fact that the transportation of empty cars is unprofitable,» said Valery Tkachev.

According to experts, the increase in railway tariffs will seriously hit the industry, which, in addition to expensive logistics, currently has other significant problems caused by the war (the cost of electricity prices, power outages, etc.), and will affect the cargo of MMC and the economy of metallurgical plants.

Recall that the Ukrainian business community and experts believe that Ukrainian Railways should focus on the growth of the cargo base, and not on raising tariffs. In particular, this opinion was expressed by the European Business Association (EBA) regarding the plans of the US.

Earlier, the director of the Center for Transport Strategies, Serhiy Vovk, noted that the railway operator, against the background of an increase in export freight flows, should lower tariffs for freight transportation in order to compete with road carriers. According to the expert, export cargo flows actually reached the pre-war level, so now Ukrainian Railways can not only increase volumes, but also compete with the trucking market, if it takes such a step.