In January-November 2022, Russian Railways loaded 1,131.7 mn tons of cargo, down 3.6% year-on-year.
Almost all commodities demonstrated a negative trend, construction materials being about the only exception.
According to Russian Railways, the downward tonnage trend is due to both lower westward export traffic and the growth of ‘lighter-weight’ container shipments in the Far East.
Coal loading, which is Russian Railways’ top commodity, decreased by 5.1% year-on-year down to 323.2 mn tons. Oil and products, Russian Railways’ second most important cargo, made 197 mn tons, down 0.3% year-on-year. Ferrous and manganese ore loading declined by 3.8% down to 106.2 mn tons.
Ferrous metals were down 3.1% to 60.9 mn tons, chemical and mineral fertilizers down 6.5% to 55.4 mn tons, timber and logs down 24.7% to 29.1 mn tons, chemicals and soda down 5.7% to 20.9 mn tons, cement down 5.3% to 23.5 mn tons, non-ferrous ore and raw sulphur down 8.6% to 16.6 mn tons, ferrous metal scrap down 19.1% to 12.2 mn tons, and coke down 14.6% to 9.3 mn tons.
Industrial and forming materials declined by 11.3% down to 28.8 mn tons, and grain by 6% to 21.3 mn tons.
Construction cargo loading was up 5.3% to 123.8 mn tons.
Rail cargo throughput during January-November 2022 made 2,412.6 bn tons/km, down 0.2% year-on-tyear.
In November, Russian Railways loaded 103.5 mn tons of cargo, down 4.1% year-on-year.
Cargo throughput in November amounted to 221.1 bn tons/km, down 2.2% year-on-year.