Russian Railways have reported a 12.5% increase in rail container traffic during January-July 2018. All in all, 2.45 mn TEU was carried.
Domestic volumes were up 3.9% year-on-year to 1.1 mn TEU, export up 18.5% to 641.5 thousand TEU, and import up 19.2% to 474.6 thousand TEU.
Transit grew the most, by 26.2% up to 271.5 thousand TEU.
Loaded container traffic amounted to 1.65 mn TEU in January-July, increasing 12.9% year-on-year.
Containerized chemicals and soda were up 7.5% to 278.8 thousand TEU, paper up 8.6% to 179.9 thousand TEU, timber up 35.7% to 207.5 thousand TEU, industrial goods up 8.2% to 146.9 thousand TEU.
Hardware volumes increased 13.9% up to 145.9 thousand TEU, cars 28.3% up to 119.7 thousand TEU, machinery, equipment and engines 22.3% up to 118.8 thousand TEU.
Ferrous metals grew 15.3% up to 68.5 thousand TEU, construction cargo 12.9% up to 55.8 thousand TEU.
Chemical and mineral fertilizers were down 12.2% to 27.3 thousand TEU, non-ferrous metals down 2.8% to 61.8 thousand TEU.
In July, Russian Railways carried 381.4 thousand TEU, up 16% year-on-year and up 4.8% month-on-month, including 260 thousand TEU of laden containers, up 4% year-on-year.