The gondola cars are getting more expensive, even though there is no more cargo. After the fall of winter, the rental prices of standard gondola cars started to rise. According to INFOLine, by June they rose from a minimum of 620 to 740 rubles. per day (+19%). But even this level still does not cover the full cost of operation, if we take into account repairs and financing of the fleet. Since April, FGC has registered a recovery in the transport of coal against the background of the increase in world prices. However, the loading volumes and cargo turnover of the operator in the first half of the year remained at last year's level. That is, the rates are rising because of the reduction of the available fleet, not the increase of the cargo base. According to the estimates of one transport, at the beginning of October about 19% of the gondola cars had breakdowns, including due to late repairs. The reserve of usable but unused cars decreased by 6 thousand during the month, to 29 thousand units. At the same time, only 12 thousand cars from the abandoned fleet can be quickly returned to service. Local shortages are already emerging in some areas. The operators are also under pressure from the Russian railway rate hike in October: it is not always possible to compensate for the increase in empty mileage prices at the expense of the shippers. NTK believes that only reducing the downtime and increasing the load will free up more than 86 thousand cars and save more than 200 billion rubles. per year. Koala on Telegram | up to MAX.

The gondola cars are getting more expensive, even though there is no more cargo. After the fall of winter, the rental prices of standard gondola cars started to rise. According to INFOLine, by June they rose from a minimum of 620 to 740 rubles. per day (+19%). But even this level still does not cover the full cost of operation, if we take into account repairs and financing of the fleet. Since April, FGC has registered a recovery in the transport of coal against the background of the increase in world prices. However, the loading volumes and cargo turnover of the operator in the first half of the year remained at last year's level. That is, the rates are rising because of the reduction of the available fleet, not the increase of the cargo base. According to the estimates of one transport, at the beginning of October about 19% of the gondola cars had breakdowns, including due to late repairs. The reserve of usable but unused cars decreased by 6 thousand during the month, to 29 thousand units. At the same time, only 12 thousand cars from the abandoned fleet can be quickly returned to service. Local shortages are already emerging in some areas. The operators are also under pressure from the Russian railway rate hike in October: it is not always possible to compensate for the increase in empty mileage prices at the expense of the shippers. NTK believes that only reducing the downtime and increasing the load will free up more than 86 thousand cars and save more than 200 billion rubles. per year. Koala on Telegram | up to MAX.