The American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) in Ukraine has criticised the national railway company over rail tariff manipulation. Ukrainian Railways (UZ) has changed tariff distance calculations to some ports in the Odesa region, but that could be in violation of antitrust laws.
Monopolist UZ shortened tariff calculation distances to some ports on the Black Sea coast, with the exception of the Chornomorsk and Kseniyevo ports. As a consequence, those have become relatively more expensive than other ports in the area. In a report, the ACC said that UZ unfairly favoured the Odesa port and the Chornomorska port by creating unequal competitive conditions.
“The consequence of such a policy is the redistribution of cargo flows in favour of other ports, which leads to negative economic consequences for the region, reduces investment attractiveness and creates the threat of a loss of market share”, the ACC commented on the matter.
In violation of the law
All the while, Ukrainian Railways has a special responsibility to create fair conditions for everybody. “Such actions by UZ may contain signs of abuse of its monopoly position, as they limit access to the port services market, and they also contradict the Law ‘On Railway Transport’, which guarantees equal access to railway infrastructure for all market participants”, the ACC said.
Earlier, UZ was forced to send trains a longer way around to the port region because of war damage to infrastructure. However, now that the shorter route has been restored, UZ is not reinstating the corresponding tariff distance. That would generate less income for the company, but UZ also says that hostile attacks and damage to energy infrastructure have led to lower capacity. That prevents the rail monopolist from adopting the shorter route.
The ACC told RailFreight.com that they remain in talks with Ukrainian Railways over the issue.