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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Federation of Metallurgists of Ukraine (FMU) urged the Cabinet of Ministers to reject the proposal to average the tariff distance to the ports of Greater Odesa. In the industry’s view, this could lead to opaque tariff formation by Ukrzaliznytsia and worsen conditions for exporters. This was reported by UNIAN with reference to the FMU’s letter.
The federation sent the appeal to the Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine Mykola Kalashnik, the Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Oleksandr Kravchenko, the Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko, and the head of the State Regulatory Service Oleksiy Kucher.
The letter notes that they are considering a proposal that during the state of war and for six months after its termination Ukrzaliznytsia could independently determine the procedure for calculating tariff distances to the ports of Greater Odesa. The federation believes that the proposed approach does not establish clear rules for its application.
“In effect, this would lead to a manual regulation of tariffs under the guise of so-called leveling of tariff distances,” the appeal states.
Tariff distance directly affects transportation costs, the industry association members reminded. The use of a single average distance for different routes, they believe, leads to a change in shippers’ transport costs without taking into account the actual distances of routes.
According to the federation, given Ukrzaliznytsia’s monopoly position, this also creates a risk of cost redistribution among market participants and covert subsidies of some shippers at the expense of others.
Members of the federation emphasized that Ukrainian industry is operating under the pressure of war, damaged infrastructure, and complicated export logistics.
“Instead of strategies to reduce unit costs, optimize the network, and attract new shippers, Ukrzaliznytsia again chooses the simplest but destructive path – covering its own costs and losses by increasing freight tariffs,” FMU said.
Metallurgists also drew attention to the procedure for approving changes. In their view, the new rules bear the signs of a regulatory act and, therefore, must go through the statutory approval procedure.
The appeal also states that freight rail tariffs are set by the relevant ministry in agreement with the Ministry of Economics and Environment and the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, the FMU believes Ukrzaliznytsia cannot independently establish new principles for determining tariff distances.
The Federation of Metallurgists urged the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories to reject the proposed mechanism, and for the Ministry of Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Finance to assess its potential impact on business and the economy and not to approve the project in its current edition.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Федерація металургів звернулася до уряду із застереженням – ЗМІ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
