“According to the Romanian National Institute of Statistics, in 2016, of the total freight market, the road freight transport had a 60.99% of market share, while the national rail freight operator, CFR Marfa had a 6.86% market share, and the private rail freight operators had 7.99%. The railway freight transport faces a severe competition when compare it with road transport. We consider that the road transport will have an ongoing increase,”Daniel Ciobanu, Traffic Sales Manager at CFR Marfa said, at the Railway Pro Technology and Services Forum, organised by Railway PRO, Club Feroviar and the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF) in 5-6 April 2017.
The national rail freight operator, CFR Marfa, identified four factors that have an impact on Romanian rail freight competition and they are related to the severe conditions of the railway infrastructure, to the increase of the pressure on prices and payment terms, the periodic allocation of additional logistical resources and the requirements on transport time optimisation although the commercial speed declines on more and more railway sections and lines.
The CFR Marfa representative explained that beside national situation, there is the competitiveness of the international routes that, outside Romania (a country crossed by Corridor IV, Corridor IX and Corridor VII-Danube River), they are shorter: for example, from Asia to Europe, Corridor X is shorter with more than 500 km, the Corridor IV via Serbia is shorter with 180-540 km, the Viking project and ferryboat services from Ilicevsk (Ukraine) to Varna (Bulgaria)/Istanbul is shorter with 400 km.
In this context, the rail freight transport must face many situations to be more attractive.
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