Several Chișinău-Kiev talks have taken place recently and will continue in the coming period to encourage Ukrainian carriers to use the railways more.
According to Moldovan Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spînu, this solution will, on the one hand, unblock border crossings and, on the other hand, provide more revenue for the state-owned Moldovan Railways (Calea Ferată din Moldova).
In recent months, however, Ukraine has managed to unblock transport on the Black Sea and, with several ports further west of the country functioning, the pressure on transit has decreased, Minister Andrei Spînu said. The official said that work is also underway on the possibility of transporting a large part of Ukrainian goods by rail, which will mean that employees of the Moldovan Railways will also receive their salaries on time.
Wages unpaid at the Moldovan Railways
The statement was made after MRC director Oleg Tofilat announced that the Moldovan State Railway Enterprise is facing financial problems, and because of this employees have not received their salaries for several months.
“There are some debts of one month, maximum two months in the payment of salaries. From what we see, it seems that this would still be a short-term situation, i.e. after January, February things will return to a higher freight flow, which will allow to pay even the arrears that are accumulated at the railway. In order to open up the land border crossings for trucks, it would be good if some of the goods could be moved by rail, and we are constantly telling our partners in Ukraine that. The transit has largely decreased for the reason I mentioned, that some ports in Ukraine have been reopened and then the cereals, for example, go directly through Ukrainian ports and no longer transit the Republic of Moldova”, said Andrei Spînu.
CFM is currently experiencing a 30% drop in the volume of goods transported. According to CFM’s Head of Commercial Service, Dmitri Prohnitchi, CFM’s average monthly income is currently 80-85 million Moldovan lei (equivalent to 4-4.35 million euro). At the same time, the monthly salary budget is over 60 million lei (just over three million euro). At a time when, on the one hand, the volume of goods transported is decreasing and, on the other, the company has to pay employees’ salaries, maintain operational expenses and cover some historical debts, CFM is trying to meet all these obligations. At the end of December, 70-80% of employees’ salaries for September had been paid. CFM currently employs 5,700 people and has 36 branches. These Chișinău-Kiev talks are therefore aimed at getting Ukrainian goods back on the railways and, consequently, at ensuring the necessary income for CFM.
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