Business news from Ukraine

The volume of export traffic of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in January-June 2025 decreased by 13.5% to 38.7 million tons, domestic traffic by 11.7% to 35.5 million tons, while the volume of imports increased by 5.4% to 5.3 million tons, the company’s CEO Oleksandr Pertsovsky reported on Facebook.

“In the first half of 2025, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 79.6 million tons of cargo, which is 11.8% less than last year. With this trend continuing throughout the year, the annual figure will be approximately 50-52% of the freight volume in the period before the full-scale invasion (2021). We are currently experiencing the lowest load in the history of the railway, which is extremely painful for the company’s ability to function, as freight traffic has always been the main source of income for the railway,” he said.

Percovsky clarified that the largest decline was in the transportation of coal, which fell by 27.5% due to the loss of mines and the deterioration of the security situation, and grain and milled products, which fell by 32.5%.

“Farmers point to the late start of the season, so we are counting on some levelling off later in the year (more shipments went out in July). Fair rules of the game are also important: we are working closely with the State Railway Transport Inspectorate on stricter checks of weight limits so that grain is not transported to ports in violation of weight limits, ‘killing the roads’ with trucks,” said the CEO.

According to him, the company managed to work with customers in the construction industry, and against the backdrop of some market revival, construction transportation of building materials increased by 4% and cement by 10%. However, as Pertsovsky emphasized, the current ultra-low tariffs for this group of goods do not add to UZ’s profits.

The CEO explained the growth in imports by the work of colleagues from the commercial team, who were able to convince important players in the fuel market to try rail services and use our logistics with our subsidiary UZ Cargo Poland.

As for transit, it is almost non-existent in the context of the war with Russia, although the company is taking its first steps towards building multimodal routes, Pertsovsky said. He recalled that in the first half of this year, the first transit container ferries were sent to Georgia, opening up opportunities for transit to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and, in the future, increasing transit volumes from China through the “Middle Corridor.”

He also said that UZ had launched a systematic survey of freight customers. “The customer loyalty index (NPS) was -27%. It’s an honest start, but it was important to record it. We have taken specific steps (in particular, in terms of digital services and work on cargo delays) and will continue to measure progress,” Pertsovsky emphasized.

Among the issues that the company was unable to resolve in the first half of the year, he mentioned the indexation of freight tariffs, which “froze at the level of mid-2022.”

“We are working to prove that there must be a balance and a fair approach to those who make it possible to sell these cargoes – our Ukrainian railway workers,” said the CEO of UZ, pointing to wage growth and investments in the company’s customers.

As reported, in 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia increased freight traffic by 17.9% compared to the previous year, to 174.9 million tons.

Last year, UZ increased export transportation by 51.2% to 84.67 million tons, imports by 40.9% to 9.63 million tons, while domestic transportation decreased by 5.5% to 80.2 million tons.