Russian Railways have reported an 11.9% surge in rail container traffic during H1 2018. All in all, 2.07 mn TEU was carried.
Domestic volumes were up 3.3% year-on-year to 897.6 thousand TEU, export up 18.2% to 551.7 thousand TEU, and import up 18.5% to 400.7 thousand TEU.
Transit grew the most, by 24.8% up to 222.5 thousand TEU.
Loaded container traffic amounted to 1.39 mn TEU in H1, increasing 12.8% year-on-year.
Containerized chemicals and soda were up 7.3% to 236.4 thousand TEU, paper up 8.5% to 154.8 thousand TEU, timber up 32.5% to 172.7 thousand TEU, industrial goods up 7.2% to 119 thousand TEU.
Hardware volumes increased 14.9% up to 123.7 thousand TEU, cars 31.6% up to 106.2 thousand TEU, machinery, equipment and engines 22.6% up to 99.5 thousand TEU.
Ferrous metals grew 17% up to 58.3 thousand TEU, construction cargo 12.4% up to 45.5 thousand TEU, oil and products 0.7% up to 38.8 thousand TEU.
Chemical and mineral fertilizers were down 8.4% to 25.1 thousand TEU, non-ferrous metals down 1.7% to 53.3 thousand TEU.
In June, Russian Railways carried 363.8 thousand TEU, up 11.9% year-on-year, including 250 thousand TEU of laden containers, up 4.2%.