Ukrainian Railways in March increased its export shipments of iron ore by 30% m/m

In March 2023, Ukrainian Railways (UZ) increased export shipments of iron ore by 29.8% compared to the previous month and by 32.2% compared to March 2022 – up to 1.7 million tons. Rail.Insider informs about it with the reference to the data of the Export Office at the UZ.

The share of iron ore in the structure of export transportation of the railway operator for the month was 32.1%. Transportation of ferrous metals abroad in March 2023 amounted to 400,000 tons (+24.6% m/m and +11.1% y/y), or 6% of the total volume of export shipments for this period .

Export transportation of grain in February amounted to 2.5 million tons, or 47% of the total volume of such transportation. Thus, grain cargoes take the first place in terms of the volume of transportation in March. On the second place – iron ore, and on the third – ferrous metals.

In total, in March 2023, UZ transported 12.2 million tons of cargo, which is 47% more compared to the same month of 2022, and 8.7% more compared to the previous month. During this period, 5.3 million tons of goods were shipped for export (+73.4% y/y and +4% m/m).

In January-March 2023, the railway operator reduced cargo transportation by 38% compared to the same period last year – to 34.7 million tons. During this period, 15.54 million tons of cargo were shipped for export.

The average daily cargo load in March 2023 increased by 48.5% compared to March 2022 – up to 385,000 tons. Compared to February, the indicator increased by 4%.

“One of our goals is to bring Ukrainian Railways to break-even, freight transportation is the main source of income. Therefore, we pay serious attention to this line of work. We are gradually leveling the situation with the load, despite the blockade of sea ports and the destruction of infrastructure. We are also constantly conducting negotiations with cargo owners and foreign partners for the growth of freight transportation and the development of logistics,” emphasized the chairman of UZ’s board Evgen Lyashchenko.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in 2022, Ukrainian Railways reduced transportation of iron and manganese ores by 59.2% compared to 2021 – to 41.7 million tons. Volumes of transportation of ferrous metals last year decreased by 57.8% y/y – to 9.2 million tons. In total, during the year UZ transported 150.6 million tons of cargo, which is 52.1% less compared to 2021.