Ukrzaliznytsia to Change Transportation Tariffs: Why Grain Export Will Become More Expensive.

According to ТСН: The President of the Office of the President, Oleksandr Kalenkov, spoke about the situation in Ukrzaliznytsia. Currently, the company uses a single average tariff that does not reflect the real costs for different types of transportation. For example, direct trains with minimal stops are used for route shipments of bulk cargo, such as ore and coal. In contrast, transporting grain requires significantly more stations, including low-traffic and unprofitable ones, where shunting locomotives and sorting stations are employed. As a result, the tariff for different transportation models remains unchanged, which worries Kalenkov.

“Let’s compare. For transporting ore, 18 stations are used, while for grain - over 400, many of which are low-traffic, that is unprofitable. Ore cargo does not use any low-traffic stations and tracks leading to them, no sorting stations, and no shunting locomotives. The price issue is huge: 63% of Ukrzaliznytsia's tracks are unprofitable, generating losses of over 16 billion hryvnias. But currently, Ukrzaliznytsia pretends that the cost of transportation is the same for cargo transported on routes and for those sent one wagon at a time, utilizing a significant part of the low-traffic unprofitable infrastructure,” emphasized the expert.

As a result, Ukrzaliznytsia is forced to maintain excessive infrastructure that is unprofitable for certain types of cargo, shifting the costs to more profitable segments. This creates a double burden on the industry, which pays for its own transportation and effectively subsidizes agricultural and other shipments.

This 'equalization' of tariffs disrupts economic logic and threatens exports. Therefore, the expert believes that it is necessary to transition from the Soviet system to the European one, which involves calculating the basic cost for each logistics model with further adjustment coefficients. This will allow for different tariffs to be set for different types of shipments, which can vary significantly depending on the cost and logistics requirements.

Changes in Ukrzaliznytsia's tariff policy can have a significant impact on the competitiveness of the agricultural sector and other industries. Researchers and experts call for reforms that will allow for accurate assessment of transportation costs, reduce the burden on industry, and ensure fair conditions for all market participants.