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Rail freight by commodity groups in 2021

10.05.2022

A total of 243.6 m tonnes of goods were transported by rail in Poland in 2021. Transport of coal was predominant - with 88.7 m tonnes transported and 23.3% share in total rail freight. The second commodity in terms of transported weight were aggregates - with nearly 47 m tonnes transported and 17.5% share. Refined oil products were on the third place - with 18.3 m tonnes transported and 12.5% share.

Coal, lignite, oil and natural gas are the main commodity group in 2021, with a share of 37% in the total weight transported and 23.8% in the transport performance. When compared to 2020, it is a decrease by 0.03% in weight and 0.4% in transport performance respectively. The second largest commodity group were metal ores and mining products - its share was 25% in weight and 26.2% in transport performance. Again - when compared to 2020 – it is a drop by 1% in weight and 0.05% in transport performance. These two largest commodity groups accounted for 61.9% of the total weight transported in 2021 and 50% of the transport performance.

In recent years we see a growth of importance of hauliers who carry out transport services for their own industrial plants, infrastructure construction companies or intermodal centres. It should be noted that more than 92% of the weight transported is carried by hauliers connected with state-owned companies (both Polish and Czech, German or French), logistics operators or large groups of hauliers. In this group there are also hauliers belonging to owners who not only perform transport services themselves, but also operate, for example, in the mining or metallurgical sector.

Detailed data on commodity groups can be found on our statistics website Dane Kolejowe (Railway Data) in the Commodity groups section and in our recent study Commodity groups in 2021.

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