Ukrzaliznytsia has canceled the convention for the iron ore transportation to the Czech Republic

Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) canceled the convention (restriction) on the iron ore transportation cargoes to the Czech Republic through the Chop railway station. This was discussed during the meeting with Slovak carriers on March 9, 2023, reports Rail.Insider.

The convention, which the national railway operator introduced on January 29, 2023, concerned the transportation of sinter ore, iron ore and concentrate in the direction of the Czech railway stations Trzynec and Ostrava-Bartowice. The cargo receivers are steel plants Trinecke zelezarny and Liberty Ostrava.

“Currently, the weather is more or less warm, and wagons with iron ore do not need to be placed in the heaters for several hours to thaw the cargo. Now the iron ore goes to transshipment without additional operations, which significantly speeds up the work of the carrier. Therefore, a decision was made to cancel the convention,” explained the representative of ZSSK Cargo Joseph Wirba.

In February 2023, UZ transported 1.317 million tons of iron and manganese ores for export. The share of iron ore in the structure of export transportation of the railway operator for the month amounted to 26%.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia in 2022 reduced the transportation of iron and manganese ores by 45.9 million tons or 59.2% compared to the same period last year – to 31.7 million tons. The transportation of ferrous metals last year decreased by 57.8% compared to 2021 – to about 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.