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LTG Cargo on track on exceed its optimistic forecasts in 2020

BC, Vilnius, 15.10.2020.Print version
LTG Cargo, the freight transportation subsidiary of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), expects that its annual freight volumes will be lower in 2020 than last year but will exceed its earlier released optimistic forecasts, informs LETA/BNS.

The company handled 38.794 million tons of freight during the three quarters of 2020, a decline of 5.9% year-on-year. 


"We had two scenarios. We said we'd have an annual contraction of 7% if we are very lucky and of 12% if we are very unlucky," LTG Cargo Egidijus Lazauskas told reporters on Thursday.

"With two months left until the end of the year, we are on track to exceed the optimistic scenario," he added. 


The turning point came in August and September when freight volumes rose above year-earlier levels, according to the CEO.


In September alone, LTG Cargo handled 5.028 million tons of freight, a rise of 9.1% year-on-year. The growth was mostly driven by a 92% increase in grain shipments and a nine-fold increase in the flow of Chinese freight.    


December, when traffic usually increases, will be important for the company's annual results, Lazauskas noted. 


In September, oil product shipments declined by 17% year-on-year, transit shipments to Russia's Kaliningrad fell by 13%, and transit shipments of ferrous metals from Russia via Klaipeda slumped down by 41%.


Lazauskas said, however, that this is not yet an indication of freight being redirected to Russian ports. "Metal transit is fluctuating all the time," he said. 


LTG Cargo unveiled two possible scenarios at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in April.


The first scenario projected a decline of around 7.5% in annual freight volumes if there is no second COVID-19 wave and the economic recovery is swift. The second, more pessimistic scenario envisaged a decrease of some 12%. 







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