Moldovan freight companies report 5% decrease in cargo tonnage

Companies engaged in shipping goods by air, road, rail, or river have transported over 13 million tonnes in January-November, 2006, a 5% decrease compared with the same period of last year, according to data of the National Statistics Bureau. The decrease was due to lower volumes shipped by rail forwarders (-5.1%) and road freight companies (- 5.6%), which accounted for 99% of the total amount of the cargo shipped. At the same time, the distance covered by freight companies went up 23.7%. The goods shipped by rail in January-November, 2006 totalled 10.08 million tonnes, which means 76.6% of the total amount of the cargo transported. 2.807 million tonnes of goods were loaded in rail stations, by 15.3% more compared with January-November, 2005. Commodities shipped the most were the following: building materials and cement (33.6%), ferrous metals and scrap iron (15%), grains and pastries (14.6%). Road freight forwarders shipped 2.9 million tonnes of goods, which means 94.4% of the previous year’s figure. Private road freight companies transported in this given period 2.108 tonnes (71% out of the total), thus registering a 9.9% increase compared to January-November, 2005. Only 132.5 thousand tonnes were shipped by river (+24.2% compared to last year). Air forwarders managed 0.86 thousand tonnes, on increase by 26.5%.