Davit Peradze, director of the Georgian Railway, told TV-program Business Morning that the company had a profit of GEL 23.5 million in 1Q2022.
Total revenue from rail and logistics shipments amounted to GEL 141 million in the same period and the volume of shipped cargo was 3 million tons. In addition, revenues from passenger transfer was also up compared to the same period of the last year, revenue from passenger transportation increased almost 5 folds.
In 2021, Georgian Railway had a profit for the first time since 2016. According to a report recently published by the company, last year’s profit was GEL 53 million.
Another novelty that the director of the railway talked about is the attraction of new cargo in the transit corridor. According to Davit Peradze, Georgia also started transporting Kazakh oil in May.
"Oil shipments started in May. Georgian Railway had the capacity to handle approximately 27 million tons of cargo. Of course, there will always be some delays when it comes to new cargo. We have been working on this for two months and have meetings with our colleagues and administrations. We do not see any delay at this point. Today we want to handle the guaranteed cargo in the corridor, which will remain in our corridor even after the lifting of sanctions.
The Georgian Railway has not stopped the growth trend for 4 years. In 2021, 10% increase was observed in shipping, which hit a record high. At this stage we are carrying 12-13 million tons and half of the capacity has already been utilized.
Upon completion of the modernization process, this figure will increase to 48 million tons. All business entities in the corridor should invest in their ports and terminals. We also have a challenge, we will need to add locomotives, as well as upgrade the park and further improve the railway tracks", Peradze said.
The Partnership Fund is 100%-shareholder of the company. Georgian Railway’s assets amount to GEL 2.25 billion. The liabilities of the state-owned company totals to GEL 1.7 billion.
