The PKP CARGO Group holds a 55.9 percent market share in terms of transport performance and 48 percent in terms of volume after eleven months of 2015, according to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS). In November, rail operators transported a total of 20.1 million tons, of which 9.47 million tons were handled by the PKP CARGO Group.
After eleven months, 205.8 million tons of goods were transported by rail in Poland, 3.5 million tons less (-1.7 percent) than in the same period of 2014. Cumulatively, after eleven months, the PKP CARGO Group’s market share in terms of volume was 48 percent (-0.6 percentage points year-on-year), and in terms of transport performance, it was 55.9 percent (-1.1 percentage points year-on-year). In November alone, the PKP CARGO Group’s share was 47.2 percent in terms of volume (-2.9 percentage points year-on-year) and 55.1 percent in terms of performance (-2.3 percentage points year-on-year).
Compared to the previous year, the lower transport volumes in November are attributed to, among others, the commodity groups of stone and aggregates (-468 thousand tons) and metals (-172 thousand tons). The transport of the former is a result of reduced demand for aggregate supplies due to the low level of progress in road construction projects. The decline in metal transport is largely due to the situation in the scrap market. Its low prices cause domestic suppliers to withhold sales, forcing customers to look for other sources of supply. On an annual basis, however, hard coal transport grew by 4 percent, and the transport of ores and pyrites increased by double digits (an increase of 16 percent), as did intermodal transport (an increase of 19 percent).
On a monthly basis, in November, stone transport decreased by 475 thousand tons compared to October. This is the result of reduced demand for aggregates due to the onset of the autumn-winter period and the end of the construction season. Lower customer demand (transport to seaports and Germany) and reduced transport of slabs from Ukraine to Slovakia (high inventory levels) are responsible for the decreased metal transport (-136 thousand tons). Lower iron ore transport from Ukraine was the cause of the decline in the ores and pyrites commodity group (-127 thousand tons), and inventory adjustments as well as reduced export transport to Germany contributed to the decline in total hard coal transport (-140 thousand tons). Compared to October, however, the transport of containers (an increase of 6 percent), grain (an increase of 68 percent), and other agricultural products (an increase of 38 percent) grew.
In November, the PKP CARGO Group transported 9.5 million tons of goods on the Polish market, 5.3 percent less than a year earlier. Cumulatively, after eleven months, this result stands at 98.7 million tons (-2.9 percent year-on-year). The transport performance achieved in November amounted to 2.5 billion tkm (-0.4 percent year-on-year), and cumulatively after eleven months, it was 26 billion tkm (-1.4 percent year-on-year).
PKP CARGO is the largest rail freight carrier in Poland and the second largest in the European Union.