Only sea transport has survived the crisis in April

Rosstat has published a report about a fall in cargo traffic in April 2009. Sea transport was the only one to go up last month where turnover grew by 25 % in comparison with April 2008. And this is where the good news for transport finishes.

Almost all methods of transport have experienced a reduction in turnover of goods. River transport is “leading” with the turnover down by 45 %, automobile cargo transport fell by 23 %, and air - by 12 %. Railway transport in April 2009 was down by 21.2% on April 2008 (the total general turnover of goods - by 19.8 %), and industrial production – down by 16.9 %. 

Cargo transport figures have shown which branches of the industrial sector are experiencing the sharpest problems. The railway network has lost 7.1 million tons of building cargo (40 % less than in April 2008) and 3 million tons of coal. Rail transport has also shown that even those industry sectors which are currently growing, will show reductions too. (For example, in animal industries and poultry farming, although these industries are growing, there was a decrease in the transport of mixed fodder. Of course, such a situation cannot last long.) The only cargo which was moved by rail in larger quantities in April was grain and milled products. A good harvest in 2007-2008 and the growth of Russian wheat exports brought a growth of 13.2 % in shipments in April, though it was still down in comparison with April 2008.

The most vital issue extracted from RZD’s data, is the continuing recession in the construction industry. According to Rosstat, work in this sector reduced by 16.3 % in April 2009 in comparison with April 2008, though figures for newly built houses rose 10.9 %. A long reinvestment cycle, together with the collapse in demand for building materials, is vividly shown in the collapse of the transportation of building cargo, and makes the multimonthly depression in this sector inevitable. It is hardly likely that this can be compensated for by any anti-recessionary measures, writes “Kommersant” according to RZD-Partner.