PKP Cargo, one of the leading European rail freight carriers, has published its results for the first half of 2023. The company has improved its performance when compared to the same period in 2022. Revenues rose by over 18%, EBITDA by almost 65% and, unlike in 2022, when the company made a loss of almost EUR 9.5 million, the company made a profit of nearly EUR 25 million. All of this is despite the fact that the group transported over 8.5 million tonnes less cargo than in H1 2022. In the second half of 2023,the company wants to focus even stronger on its profitability.
PKP Cargo strongly relies on transporting coal and aggregates. They are seasonal commodities, complementing one another well. The third significant segment is intermodal.
In H2 2023, PKP Cargo transported 2.9 million tonnes less coal due to lower coal consumption by electricity producers and high stock caused by accumulation at customers at the end of 2022.
The aggregates and construction materials commodities dropped by 600,000 tonnes due to lower limestone demand from Czech steelworks and German power plants and less quartzite exported through ports to Iceland.
In intermodal, the drop was 2.2 million tonnes. The company was heavily involved in the east-west traffic between China and Europe via Belarus, which was hard hit by the Russian aggression in Ukraine. In addition, intermodal is more sensitive to inflation and market volatility. These factors made PKP Cargo reconsider its intermodal strategy
PKP Cargo still strongly believes in intermodality, proof of which is the plan to open its Zduńska Wola-Karsznice multimodal terminal (near Łódź) in the fourth quarter of 2023. With an investment of nearly EUR 29 million, it will handle half a million TEUs annually. The terminal, spreading over 13 hectares, will be situated on a cross-roads of the east-west New Silk Road axis and the Three Seas north-south axis, strategically positioning it for the development of intermodal in all directions
