Cargo, Good for Business, Latvia, Railways

During the first six months of this year, 21.3 mln tons of freight were carried by rail in Latvia, using LDz infrastructure, and the rail company’s unconsolidated first-half profit - EUR 8.9 mln – was 1.9 times higher than planned.

Passenger numbers grew as well - from 8.7 mln rail passengers carried in the first half of 2018 to 8.9 mln in January-June 2019. Most of them, or 8.8 mln people, were carried on domestic routes.

Compared to the first six months of 2018, freight shipping by rail decreased, although some segments showed significant growth. Transportation of oil and oil products was down 20.5% y-o-y to 4.9 mln tons in the first half of this year. Transportation of coal was down 0.1% to 10.2 mln tons. Mineral products carried by rail in the first half of 2019 increased 38.8%, chemical cargos grew 27.6% and timber cargos rose 26%.

“In the first half of this year, LDz Group continued to show steady financial 

performance, and thanks to the active work of the LDz management board and the company’s entire team on boosting efficiency and optimizing costs, LDz managed to beat the planned profit target and also raise productivity per employee,” said LDz CEO Edvins Berzins.

LDz closed the first half of 2018 with EUR 104 mln in turnover and EUR 13.6 mln in profit after paying taxes.

Latvijas Dzelzcels is a state-owned railway company. Latvijas Dzelzcels group comprises the parent company, Latvijas Dzelcels, and six subsidiaries: LatRailNet, LDz Cargo, LDz Infrastruktura, LDz Ritosa Sastava Serviss, LDz Apsardze, and LDz Logistika.