{"id":221188,"date":"2025-05-21T20:04:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T10:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=62642"},"modified":"2025-05-21T20:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T10:04:23","slug":"polish-intermodal-rail-rebounds-in-2024-driven-by-port-volumes-and-eastern-corridors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=221188","title":{"rendered":"Polish intermodal rail rebounds in 2024, driven by port volumes and eastern corridors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>After a turbulent 2023, intermodal rail in Poland surged back to growth last year, with Silk Road activity, Ukrainian links and seaport transshipments pushing volumes to grow.<\/strong><br \/>\n<span id=\"more-62642\"><\/span>Intermodal rail transport in Poland recovered substantially in 2024, with all key indicators showing strong year-on-year growth. Figures from the Polish Office of Rail Transport (UTK) show that intermodal volumes reached 27,6 million tonnes over the year, nearly 3,2 million tonnes more than in 2023 \u2014 a rise of almost 13%. Transport performance reached 9,4 billion tonne-kilometres, up 10.7%.<\/p>\n<p>The number of intermodal units transported climbed from 1,59 million to 1,74 million units, an increase of 9.6%. Meanwhile, total TEUs transported reached 2,72 million, increasing 11.6% from the 2023 figure.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fluid wp-image-62649 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/output-4-e1747820453254.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"715\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart: \u00a9 RailFreight.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Port performance and eastward corridors aid recovery<\/h2>\n<p>The 2024 turnaround comes after a sluggish 2023, when economic and geopolitical disruptions sharply affected containerised cargo volumes. Last year, however, the market proved more resilient. According to UTK, 39 companies reported intermodal activity in 2024, reflecting revived interest and capacity on the rail freight market.<\/p>\n<p>A key driver of the rebound was improved eastward connectivity. Transport along the Brest-Terespol crossing on the New Silk Road regained momentum through much of the year, nearly reaching record 2021 levels before declining in late 2024 amid tightening Russian controls. At the same time, newly launched intermodal connections with Ukraine continued to grow. Both developments were complemented by record transhipment volumes at Polish seaports.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"readmore\">\n<div class=\"readmore-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/railfreight\/2025\/03\/31\/these-17-terminal-and-rolling-stock-projects-won-polish-funding\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/shutterstock_2274520863-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"readmore-thumbnail\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-info\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/railfreight\/2025\/03\/31\/these-17-terminal-and-rolling-stock-projects-won-polish-funding\/\" class=\"readmore-title\">These 17 terminal and rolling stock projects won Polish funding<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2>Intermodal share of rail freight hits record<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cIntermodal transport is currently a very important section of rail transport,\u201d said Dr Eng. Ignacy G\u00f3ra, President of the UTK. He highlighted that the 2024 share of intermodal freight reached 12.4% by weight and 16.1% by transport performance \u2014 the highest since records began.<\/p>\n<p>G\u00f3ra pointed to new support mechanisms, including additional intermodal relief schemes and EU-backed investment programmes, as further signs of the sector\u2019s strategic importance.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"readmore\">\n<div class=\"readmore-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/intermodal\/2025\/05\/19\/pkp-cargo-wants-to-sell-its-shares-in-slawkow-and-medyka-terminals\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Euroterminal-Slawkow-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"readmore-thumbnail\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"readmore-info\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/intermodal\/2025\/05\/19\/pkp-cargo-wants-to-sell-its-shares-in-slawkow-and-medyka-terminals\/\" class=\"readmore-title\">PKP Cargo wants to sell its shares in S\u0142awk\u00f3w and Medyka terminals<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2>Q4 slowdown, but annual trend strong<\/h2>\n<p>The upward trend was steady across all four quarters of 2024, although Q4 saw a slight slowdown. Compared to Q4 2023, the number of intermodal units rose 3.9% to 438,600, and TEUs increased 8.4% to 690,300. Cargo weight stood at 6,83 million tonnes (+1.7%), while transport performance dropped slightly by 3.4% to 2,34 billion tonne-kilometres.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fluid wp-image-62650 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/output-2-e1747820554929.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"570\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart: \u00a9 RailFreight.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Compared to Q3 2024, all parameters declined marginally, suggesting seasonal or post-peak moderation. In total, 36 companies reported intermodal activity in Q4 alone, slightly fewer than the annual total of 39.<\/p>\n<h2>PCC Intermodal leads operator rankings<\/h2>\n<p>PCC Intermodal SA emerged as the top intermodal carrier in 2024 by both transport performance (19.55%) and cargo weight (17.45%). PKP CARGO SA followed closely with 18.7% and 16.49%, respectively. DB Cargo Polska SA held third place on both counts.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fluid wp-image-62651 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/output-e1747820651343.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"714\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart: \u00a9 RailFreight.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Captrain Polska and Metrans Rail also crossed the 5% threshold for market share by both metrics. Other significant players in terms of weight included LTE Polska and Eurasian Railway Carrier, each holding just under 6%.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fluid wp-image-62652 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/output-1-e1747820745144.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"715\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart: \u00a9 RailFreight.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a turbulent 2023, intermodal rail in Poland surged back to growth last year, with Silk Road activity, Ukrainian links and seaport transshipments pushing volumes\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":62649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,2832,47],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-221188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intermodal","category-poland","category-rail-news","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=221188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223985,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221188\/revisions\/223985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=221188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=221188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=221188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}