Russian Railways have reported a 15.6% year-on-year increase in rail container traffic during January-July 2020. All in all, more than 3.7 mn TEU was carried during the period under report.
Domestic container traffic grew by 12.8% up to 1.5 mn TEU, export was up 14.3% to 958.6 thousand TEU, import up 13.1% to 775.7 thousand TEU, and transit up 33.7% to 487.8 thousand TEU.
Laden container traffic made about 2.53 mn TEU, up 16.6% year-on-year.
Commodity-wise, containerized fruit, vegetables and potatoes grew the most, up 64.5% to 5.1 thousand TEU. Ferrous metals were up 45.3% to 131.2 thousand TEU, non-ferrous ore and raw sulphur up 29.5% to 15.7 thousand TEU.
Chemicals and soda transportation grew by 27.9% year-on-year up to 547 thousand TEU, timber and woodwork by 7% up to 367 thousand TEU, paper by 14.3% to 234.7 thousand TEU.
Consumer goods increased by 24.7% up to 241 thousand TEU, hardware by 13.8% up to 208.3 thousand TEU, machinery, equipment and engines by 25.4% to 182.3 thousand TEU, non-ferrous metals by 24.8% up to 94 thousand TEU, construction cargo by 10.9% to 83 thousand TEU.
Containerized chemical and mineral fertilizers were up 2.4% to 27.5 thousand TEU, metal structures up 0.2% to 10.4 thousand TEU, other and LCL cargo up 17% to 81.8 thousand TEU,
Containerized food products continued demonstrating an upward trend. Thus, grain was up 17.8% to 5.5 thousand TEU, fish up 1.7% to 14 thousand TEU, salt up 16.5% to 1 thousand TEU, sugar up 26.3% to 2.4 thousand TEU, meal and flour up 22.7% to 7 thousand TEU, other food products up 39.2% to 100.7 thousand TEU.
Vehicles and parts were down 8.7% to 142.7 thousand TEU, and oil and products down 3.2% to 55.4 thousand TEU.