The latest statistics on railway freight transport in the Wider Black Sea Area were indicating a 19% growth in 2011 compared to 2009, the 28 markets recording a freight traffic of 2.857,5 billion tonne-km, which means 3.13 billion tonnes carried. It’s easy to guess that the first 5 markets from the point of view of carried goods on railways are Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus.
The WBSA railway freight transport markets continue to be in the limelight this year as well. Tenders for the privatisation of railway transport operators in Romania and Bulgaria are waited for with interest as they represent an important opportunity for the companies which want to increase their regional market shares. Among the growth engines of the railway freight sector is the consolidation of the position of Central and Eastern Europe as logistic hub through the significant infrastructure development investments, the increase in the productivity of regional production networks and of the emerging economies of Central Asia and Russia.
Also, another driving factor will again be the increasing volume of trade between Europe and Asia which will certainly put pressure on the logistic suppliers’ chain. As a matter of course, some railway operators have already thought about forming joint ventures by offering logistics and container transport services. The latest such example is the partnership between the railway companies in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus which resulted in the establishment of United Transport and Logistics Company whose objective is to obtain additional container traffic of over 1 million TEU by 2020.
Stimulation is also generated by positive previsions regarding container export on the Europe-Asia route. The Baltic Transport Journal indicated an annual growth of container exports in 2011 of 7.58% (6,052,500 TEU), while imports to Europe recorded a 3.3% growth (13,920,700 TEU). An important share of these volumes could be won by railway operators considering the shorter travel times – twice as fast by train than by the maritime routes connecting Central Europe to China. But the decision of choosing railways as means of transport between the two continents is much influenced by price – less than by sea – by the increasing quality of services and, perhaps to the greatest extent, by the improvement of transshipment procedures.
by Cristina Trifon
Head of Business Development & Strategic Alliances
Club Feroviar
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