Heavy Cargo

Coal is a major commodity for the Russian transport sector, and significant fluctuations in its shipment volumes have a notable impact. In terms of weight, coal accounts for 28% of freight shipments and 40% of freight turnover for Russian Railways (RZD). However, compared to other cargo types, coal is a low-margin commodity. According to IEDT, the freight rate for coal exports to the East is 1.6 times lower than the average across all cargo types.

The railway monopoly has long advocated reducing coal shipments to the East to increase the share of higher-margin freight. In 2025, this shift may take effect, prioritizing only 54.1 million tons of coal from Kuzbass for transport to the Russian Far East, compared to 99.3 million tons from six regions in 2024. The Ministry of Transport estimated that prioritizing coal transportation in 2024 resulted in a loss of 10.4 million tons of other cargo shipments. However, experts from the Institute for Natural Monopolies Research (IPEM) argue that despite a 53% drop in coal shipments in the northwest and a 14.2% decline in the south, these volumes were not replaced by other cargo types.

The full article is available on the website of Kommersant.

Photo: Alexander Manzyuk, Kommersant