Russian Railways have reported a 12.6% surge in rail container traffic during Q1 2018. All in all, 1003.9 thousand TEU was carried.
Domestic volumes were up 3.5% year-on-year to 430 thousand TEU, export up 16.7% to 274.8 thousand TEU, and import up 21.6% to 198.3 thousand TEU.
Transit grew the most, by 30.1% up to 100.6 thousand TEU.
Loaded container traffic amounted to 663.9 thousand TEU in Q1, increasing 14.8% year-on-year.
Containerized chemicals and soda were up 7.3% to 114 thousand TEU, paper up 8% to 75.6 thousand TEU, timber up 34.2% to 81.1 thousand TEU, industrial goods up 15.3% to 59.3 thousand TEU.
Hardware volumes increased 22.6% up to 58.8 thousand TEU, cars 33.5% up to 51 thousand TEU, machinery, equipment and engines 26.7% up to 46 thousand TEU.
Non-ferrous metals grew 7.5% up to 27.3 thousand TEU, ferrous metals 23.8% up to 27.4 thousand TEU, construction cargo 6.8% up to 17.7 thousand TEU, mixed and other cargo 1.5% up to 19 thousand TEU.
The only commodity that declined in January-March were chemical and mineral fertilizers, which were down 13.1% to 14.7 thousand TEU.
In March, Russian Railways carried 360.2 thousand TEU, up 9.3% year-on-year, including 241.8 thousand TEU of laden containers, also up 9.3%.