Ukrzaliznytsia to report loss at end of 2022 - supervisory board member

MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax) - JSC Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) will post a loss at the end of 2022 due to a decline in cargo traffic and a large number of evacuation rail services, according to Serhiy Leshchenko, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's Office and a member of the Ukrzaliznytsia supervisory board.

"The company will report a loss at the end of the year, because it is now deprived of access to profit, whereas its profit is cargo traffic, i.e. the transportation of iron ore and grain cargoes [...] to ports. The ports are not functioning. Consequently, this traffic has fallen considerably... In 2021, we posted a profit of 0.5 billion hryvni. Our plans for this year were 2 billion hryvni, as we thought that it would be a routine year: growing traffic volumes, reforms. We posted profit in the first month [of 2022], and we kept accumulating profit until February 24. But, of course, losses have been measured by quite large figures after February 24," the Ukrainian media quoted Leshchenko as saying in remarks on the Channel 24 on Monday.

Since Ukrzaliznytsia is a national carrier, which accounts for a large amount of cargo traffic in the country, the company will not be left without state support, he said.

As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia has pointed out a number of problems from European countries' transport system that do not make it possible to increase the volume of cargo transportation from Ukraine to Europe by rail.