Transport distances for Moldovan cargo down, volume up

In January-May 2007, the rail, auto, river and air transport enterprises have shipped about 6.3 mln tonnes of goods, which is more than the volume of cargo shipped n the same period of 2006, and namely by 1.1 mln tonnes (+21,5%). At the same time, the aggregate cargo haulage has diminished as compared to January-May 2006 by 2.9%, registering 1840.7 mln tonne-km. The average distance of transporting a tonne of goods in January-May 2007 was of 260.7 km for the rail transport, 406.4 km for the auto transport, 1380.5 km for the air transport and 3.7 km for the river one, data of the National Bureau of Statistics show. Within the mentioned period, 4802.6 thousand tonnes of goods have been transported by railway transport means (i.e. by 18.1% more as compared to January-May 2006), with 28.9% being goods loaded in wagons at Moldovan railway stations and goods loaded from other world railways (excepting the CIS and Baltic countries).Within the loaded goods structure, the bigger share belonged to the following goods: cement and construction materials (33,3%), ferrous materials (27,1%), cereals and bakery products (14,5%). The haulage of the goods transported by the railway means was of 1251.9 mln tonne-km in January-May 2007, which is by 11.9% less than the level registered during the same period of 2006. About 4.8 mln tonnes of goods have been transported by auto transport means, which is by 18.1% more than during the same period last year. About 59.9% thousand tonnes have been transported by the river transport means, which represents a 93.2% increase as compared to the same period of 2006; while 0.45 thousand tonnes of goods being transported by air transport means, which is by 32,6% more.