Today, Kommersant FM radio commented on the news from the Financial Times: “Houthi attacks have increased the volume of freight traffic on Russian railways.”
Other industry experts also agreed with us, who also do not fully feel that “the number of applications for freight transportation on Russian railways has increased by 40%,‘let's explain why. Demand has really increased and we (albeit with a high degree of skepticism) expected the same boom as in 2021, but three years ago there was no such sanctions pressure as today. European companies have to use a route that is more expensive and twice as long because they refuse to work with Russian carriers due to ethical concerns or the risk of secondary sanctions.
Now let's turn to the figures: in 2021, the volume of transit traffic through The volume of the Russian Federation amounted to 1.1 million TEU (twenty—foot equivalent), this year's volume is 4 times less, given the increased demand. That is, an increase in the current volume by even 40% is quite modest figures, given the existing capacities of Russian Railways.