In the first quarter of 2023, PKP CARGO achieved a 136% EBITDA increase, a 34.1% growth year-on-year. With over EUR 37 million EBIT, it is a significantly better result when compared to the previous year, when the company reported a EUR 7 million loss. The net profit for the first three months of 2023 was over EUR 23 million, compared to over EUR 10 million loss for the same period in 2022.
However, these positive results were caused by the strong demand for coal transport in 2022. This commodity still has the biggest share of PKP CARGO transports, with the carrier covering approximately 70% of this market. Management of PKP CARGO realises this, and for the remaining year 2023, it will keep its focus on profitability.
This is also due to the fact that the company cannot rely on coal transport as much as before. The demand for coal transported for electricity production decreased in the first quarter of this year by 13.6%.
At the same time, low demand for limestone in export markets such as Czechia or Iceland and lower demand for cement impacted the second-most important commodity for PKP CARGO, the construction materials and aggregates.
The biggest drop was in the intermodal segment when a 50% drop in tonnes transported was recorded. This was due to the geopolitical situation caused by the war in Ukraine on the east-west axis. At the same time, port congestions and coal transhipment prioritisation in Polish Baltic ports negatively impacted the north-south axis.
