Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The Federation of Metallurgists of Ukraine has urged the government to abandon the initiative to average the tariff distance to the ports of Greater Odesa — such a mechanism could effectively give Ukrzaliznytsia the ability to manually influence the cost of transportation and worsen the competitiveness of Ukrainian exporters.
This is stated in a letter from the Federation of Metallurgists of Ukraine, addressed to the Minister for Recovery, Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine Mykola Kalashnyk, the Minister of Economy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine Oleksandr Kravchenko, the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko, and the head of the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine Oleksiy Kucher.
It concerns a proposal to change the rules for determining the tariff distance to the ports of Greater Odesa. It is proposed that for the period of martial law and for six months after its termination, Ukrzaliznytsia will be able to independently set the specifics of determining tariff distances for freight transportation.
The Federation of Metallurgists states that the proposed model lacks a transparent and understandable implementation mechanism. “In fact, this will lead to ‘manual’ regulation of tariffs under the guise of so-called leveling of tariff distances,” the letter says.
The organization notes that the tariff distance directly affects the amount of the transportation charge. Therefore, setting the same average distance for different routes may change the costs for individual freight owners regardless of the actual length of the shipment. Given Ukrzaliznytsia’s monopolistic position, such a mechanism creates a risk of hidden subsidies for some market participants at the expense of others.
Separately, the metallurgists warn about possible economic consequences: in their assessment, artificially averaging the tariff distance could make some shipments economically unviable and lead to reduction or cessation of transportation of metallurgical cargo, ore concentrate, and grain.
The Federation emphasizes that this occurs at a time when industrial enterprises are already suffering losses due to war, shelling, and worsening export logistics. “Instead of strategies to reduce unit costs, optimize the network, and attract new freight owners, Ukrzaliznytsia again chooses the simplest but ruinous path — covering its costs and losses by raising freight tariffs,” the Federation stated.
A separate block of comments concerns the decision-making procedure. The Federation notes that changes to the rules for determining tariff distances have signs of a regulatory act and, therefore, must pass the procedural requirements prescribed by law.
The letter also notes that tariffs for freight railway transportation are set by the relevant ministry with the agreement of the Ministry of Economy and Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance. Therefore, according to the authors of the appeal, changes cannot be implemented without the positions of these departments.
In conclusion, the Federation asks the Ministry for Restoration, Infrastructure and Transport to reject the initiative to average the tariff distance to the ports of Greater Odesa and to prevent adoption of a mechanism that would grant Ukrzaliznytsia the right to independently determine the specifics of tariff distances. The Federation also calls the Ministry of Economy and Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance to assess the potential risks for business and the economy and not to approve the project in the proposed edition.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Федерація металургів закликала уряд відмовитися від усереднення тарифної відстані до портів Великої Одеси". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
