Business urged Ukrzaliznytsia not to raise tariffs for container transportation

EBA expressed concern over the initiative of UZ to increase tariffs for the transportation of goods with a gross weight of more than 26 tons.

This is stated in the statement of the European Business Association.

According to experts of the Association’s Logistics Committee, the establishment of the specified tariff limit will cover the vast majority of container shipments by rail.

The member companies of the Committee consider it necessary to discuss such a tariff initiative, in particular the justification for the proposed weight norm of 26 tons, with cargo owners, specialized transport companies and maritime container lines.

The EBA noted that the increase in tariffs may reduce the volume of container transportation by rail and redirect cargo flows to road transport. This will create a load on roads and increase the costs of their maintenance, as well as lead to a loss of income for the railway and a number of companies involved in container transportation. It is worth noting that container transportation by road is already more attractive to cargo owners in a number of cases than rail.

EBA member companies drew attention to the fact that EU countries, on the contrary, encourage container transportation by providing discounts on access to infrastructure, which can reach 25%-75%. The transition to container transportation is part of the EU transport strategy, according to which at least 30% of cargo should be transported by rail or water transport, in particular in containers.

Unlike EU countries, in Ukraine the segment of rail container transportation is still being formed and requires investment and state support. According to the Association’s experts, the development of the rail container transportation industry will contribute to:

• increasing the volume of export-import transportation due to multimodality, cargo traceability and delivery predictability;

• ensuring the environmental friendliness of such transportation;

• preservation of the road infrastructure, in particular, reducing the load on roads, and development of related service sectors, in particular terminal, port, transport and machine-building

• accordingly, the Association’s experts believe that increasing tariffs for container transportation is inappropriate and may have negative consequences for exports and not be consistent with the goals of transport integration with the EU.

The Association has sent an official letter to the Ministry of Development, the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine and Ukrzaliznytsia. In its appeal, the business calls for a review of the decision to introduce increased tariffs for railway container transportation and initiate discussions on this issue with the business community in the near future.

According to the business, this will avoid a negative impact on the railway container transportation market, the railway industry and the country’s economy as a whole. USM previously reported that the EBA called for a review of UZ tariff distances to the ports of Chornomorsk and Odesa.