FAS for scrapping export surcharge on all cargoes except highly liquid goods - Artemyev
MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) -The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is in favor of scrapping the Russian Railways (RZD) surcharge on regulated tariffs for all cargoes except highly liquid goods, FAS chief Igor Artemyev said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The surcharges "are an anachronism on a declining market. My opinion is that RZD must think about simply cancelling these export surcharges, that is, the increased tariffs...Especially lucrative freight could be an exception...I am not certain that the surcharges need to be canceled for crude oil and petroleum products. Perhaps they need to be lowered, but canceled - I don't think so. I think that this is a good, high-yielding business even in these conditions, due to the devaluation," he said.
"Freight has already intensively 'transferred' and is shipped in our country on trucks, ruining the roads, the environment and so on. Or say, river and sea transport. Because rail is losing this freight due to high tariffs. Therefore, tariff markdowns are needed, not markups. That is today's challenge," Artemyev said.
