ČD Cargo, which also transports goods by rail through its branches and subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia, achieved earnings before tax (EBT) of €20 million and net profit after tax of almost €13 million in accordance with international accounting standards (IFRS) in the first half of 2023, making the freight transport segment a significant contributor to the consolidated results of the entire ČD Group.
"We continue to expand into foreign markets where we manage to significantly increase transport volumes. The growth of volume abroad is positively reflected in the consolidated results and enables us to use our capacities of locomotives and wagons more efficiently. On the domestic transport market, due to the unfavorable situation in some industrial sectors and energy industry, the transport volume decreased by 7%. This figure corresponds to the statistics of overall performance on the railway published by Správa železnic which shows a year-on-year decline in performance in gross tonne-kilometers for all carriers of 8.6%," adds Tomáš Tóth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ČD Cargo.
Thanks mainly to the development of international transport, ČD Cargo's revenues increased by more than EUR 36 million (12%) compared to the previous year. International transport also entails the need for significant investment in the interoperability and modernisation of the wagon and locomotive fleet, which is why ČD Cargo continued its investment strategy in the first half of the year.
"Investments in the renewal and modernization of railway rolling stock are a necessary pillar of our strategy and we invest all available resources in them. We are also engaged in finding the most efficient solutions for the transport of goods in terms of intermodality. In the future, we are ready to cooperate more with road haulers in the transport of single wagon loads so that this segment is preserved and, through modern transport technologies that will simplify and speed up the loading and unloading process, make it more economical. Last but not least, we are looking for alternatives to replace the deficit of previously traditional commodities transported by rail. Now, for example, we are focusing on the beginning transformation in the heating industry where the transportation of fossil fuels in the future will partially be replaced by the new transportation of wood chips and municipal waste," concludes Tomáš Tóth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ČD Cargo.
