Rail freight growth in Russia

The Russian Rail Company – founded seven years ago – has moved 10.4 billion tons of freight cargo since it began.  The nationalised company has gradually increased its market share, which is now 42.4% of all rail freight shipped in the country so far this year.  2009 was a challenging year for the company due to the economic circumstances, which led to a decline overall in freight traffic.

 

The Trans Siberian market is growing; the total volume of large-tonnage containers has increased by 23%.  Within this increase, shipping of international freight increased by 45%a , and the company has made agreements with Freight Forwarders’ associations to attract additional freight to the Trans Siberian railway from Japan and South Korea to Europe and visa versa. A regular container train service is already running on the China-Europe-China route to attract additional container freight. 

 

The company is now planning to expand into the broader logistics market, and has allocated 3.3 million euros to set up a new venture.