Freight shipping to unfriendly countries dropped by almost 40 percent
Russian Railways’ freight volumes to the East exceeded those to the West for the first time, Russian Railways CEO – Chairman of the Executive Board Oleg Belozerov said at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the meeting transcript published on the official website of the Kremlin.
“We regularly speak of the economy turning to the East; we have seen figures for the second half of the year, and in fact, for the first time in the history of our railway traffic, freight volumes to the East exceeded volumes to the West: 80 million to the East, 76 million tonnes to the West; this was the trend in the second half of the year,” said Oleg Belozerov.
According to him, freight shipping to friendly countries increased by 23 percent, while with unfriendly countries it dropped by almost 40 percent, from 365 to 210 million tonnes, and this trend is continuing.