The freight carriage volume on the network of Russian Railways is expected to fully recover in 1H21, as stated by Oleg Belozerov, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Russian Railways, speaking at the plenary discussion of the PRO//Motion1520 International Transport and Logistics Forum "In Railway We Trust. Global Cooperation in the Face of Uncertainty.", the company informed.
According to Belozerov, the company revised its decision-making algorithms and given its employees the necessary powers. In 2020, Russian Railways has so far provided shippers with discounts on tariffs totaling more than RUB 10 billion. "We wanted to support everyone and therefore created special conditions. As a result, an additional 18 million tons of various cargoes were attracted to the rail network. At the same time, not only did we not lose anyone, but attracted clients who had never worked with the railway before," Oleg Belozerov noted.
Belozerov added that the initial, most pessimistic forecasts had predicted a 15% or even 30% decline in handling in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These forecasts, were subsequently shown to be false, not least due to the company taking the right measures in good time.
Russian Railways is one of the world's top three railway operators. The company started operation on October 1, 2003. The founder and sole shareholder of JSC Russian Railways is the Russian Federation. The Government of Russia exercises the shareholder's powers on behalf of the Russian Federation. The company's assets were formed by contributing assets of 987 state-owned federal railway transport organizations to the authorized capital of JSC Russian Railways at book value. The company's authorized capital is RUB 2,315,846,775,000 and consists of 2,315,846,775 shares.
IFRS net profit of Russian Railways for 2019 increased 4.4 times to RUB 155.738 billion from RUB 35.408 billion a year earlier. Revenue increased by 3.9% to RUB 2.507 trillion from RUB 2.413 trillion. Profit before tax amounted to RUB 193.437 billion against RUB 68.398 billion.
