EBA against differentiated coefficients to railway tariffs in direction of ports
Business opposes the intentions of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia to introduce differentiated increasing coefficients for calculating tariffs for freight transportation in the direction of individual seaports, the European Business Association (EBA) reported on its website on Tuesday.
"The business community views this initiative as unfounded and potentially harmful to Ukrainian exporters and the broader economy," the EBA said.
"According to member companies of the ЕВА’s Logistics Committee, implementing such an initiative contradicts the principles of equal access to infrastructure and risks violating antitrust legislation," reads the report.
"The law of Ukraine on natural monopolies stipulates that tariff-setting must be based on economically justified expenses, depreciation, taxes, asset values, profitability, distance to the consumer, product quality, and government support. Therefore, tariffs should be formed using transparent and objective criteria, not solely on the direction of transport. Under the Railway Transport Statute of Ukraine, freight service users are cargo shippers, not seaports. As such, tariff policy should be grounded in equal access for all shippers rather than administrative efforts to “level the playing field” between ports," it says.
"The initiative may slow down the transport sector’s European integration and reduce the competitiveness of Ukrainian exports, especially in the agricultural sector. These concerns are amplified by recent decisions to alter tariff distances to the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk. Currently, trains are being redirected via longer routes, which has already raised railway transport costs and the final price of exported goods," the EBA noted.
The ЕВА insists on maintaining tariffs that are transparent, fair, economically grounded, and reflective of actual costs.