In the first quarter of 2024, rail transported freight amounted to 3.2 mln. tons1 , which is 2.5 percent more than the respective figure of the previous year. 12.0 percent of the total freight was transported domestically, 28.9 percent was transported internationally (excluding transit) and 59.1 percent was transit,- according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat).
In the first quarter of 2024, the share of outgoing freight represents 29.4 percent of the railway transported freights, while the share of incoming freight was 70.6 percent.
In the first quarter of 2024, the sender country of 53.5 percent of total incoming rail freight was Russian Federation, 22.9 percent was sent by Azerbaijan. The share of other countries sending cargo was less than ten percent each (23.6 percent combined).
In the first quarter of 2024, Russian Federation was the final destination for 10.2 percent of total outgoing freight. The share of other receiving countries was less than ten percent each (89.8 percent combined).
The breakdown of the total transit freight2 by the final destination country was as follows: Netherlands – 16.2 percent, Turkey – 8.1 percent, China - 7.9 percent, Italy – 3.3 percent, Ukraine – 3.3 percent, Romania – 2.4 percent, and elsewhere was for the rest. In the same period, Brazil was the sender country of 2.7 percent of the total transit freight, China – 1.5 percent, Ukraine – 1.4 percent, Greece – 1.3 percent, USA – 1.1 percent, and elsewhere was for the rest.
In the reporting period, 32.7 percent of the total freight were metal ores and other mining and quarrying products, 28.4 percent were coal, crude oil and oil products and natural gas, and 9.0 percent were food products, beverages and tobacco.
The distribution by type of goods was different in the case of freights transported domestically in the first quarter of 2024, as the share of metal ores and other mining and quarrying products equaled 61.2 percent of total, and the share of coal and lignite; crude petroleum and natural gas amounted to 12.6 percent, while the share of other nonmetallic mineral products amounted to 11.6 percent.
