RZD not expecting significant drop in freight in July
MOSCOW. July 26 (Interfax) - Russian Railways (RZD) does not expect a significant drop in freight in July compared with June, the company's chief, Vladimir Yakunin, told reporters.
"The floods [in the Kuban] have not radically affected goods shipping, so I know that if there is going to be a drop then it won't be so big that it could be looked at as a change to the year's freight target," Yakunin said, without giving any specific figures.
Analysts have said the floods in the Kuban, which seriously hampered access to the portside stations in Novorossiysk and the Taman during the first half of July, would affect the July freight figures. They said figures for shipments of some types of cargo bound for the region, including grain, petroleum products and timber, could be negative.
"Seasonal fluctuations are not related to decline in the cargo base, but generally only to 'windows' and the passenger summer," Yakunin said on Thursday.
June freight rose 3% from the same month last year to 106.7 million tonnes, and averaged at 3.56 million tonnes on a daily basis. RZD expects the same sort of growth (2.9%-3%) for the year as a whole.
July 2011 freight was 105.9 million tonnes.
