Loading volumes on the Russian rails keep on dwindling. After a bad result in February, March did not deliver much that could be considered an improvement.
In total, Russia loaded 97,7 million tonnes of freight onto trains throughout March, according to Russian Railways (RZD) data. That is a 7,2 per cent drop compared to March of 2024.
The decline in Russian rail loading seems to be speeding up based on data from the past two months. February’s 9,3 per cent drop and the results from March are noticeably worse than the numbers of preceding months.
Much like in February, construction materials contributed significantly to the decline. Another notable mention is grain loading, the volume of which shrunk by 30,8 per cent. By contrast, neighbouring Kazakhstan is currently seeing booming grain volumes on the railways.
– Coal: 85,1 million tonnes (-2 per cent)
– Oil and petroleum products: 50,2 million tonnes (-5,9 per cent)
– Iron and manganese ore: 26,3 million tonnes (-0,9 per cent)
– Construction materials: 19,7 million tonnes (-23,2 per cent)
– Chemical and mineral fertilisers: 18,4 million tonnes (+7,6 per cent)
– Ferrous metals: 13,8 million tonnes (-13,1 per cent)
– Other, including containerised cargo: 28,9 million tonnes (-3,8 per cent)
– Timber: 7 million tonnes (+0,1 per cent)
– Grain: 5,7 million tonnes (-30,8 per cent)
What is behind the loading crash?
After February’s results, RZD blamed the downturn on external factors like commodity market shifts and logistics issues. It claimed that those led to decreased loading of construction materials, cement, ferrous metals, and oil products. However, other market participants point to delays in document processing for empty wagons, causing congestion and preventing new wagons from being loaded.
RZD’s efforts to resolve the – already somewhat notorious – issue of excess empty wagons have been unsuccessful. Other operators have criticised the inefficiency of moving wagons to locations convenient for RZD rather than to where demand exists. They say that that measure has actually grown the number of empty wagons on the network. Additionally, a locomotive shortage due to Western sanctions and labor shortages from the war in Ukraine have further reduced RZD’s freight capacity.