Tariff tussle

摘要

Russian Railways (RZD) wants to impose big tariff hikes in 2017, despite a government plan that envisages only a modest rise in 2017-19. Crude and products pipeline monopoly Transneft is not seeking large tariff increases. RZD usually raises the issue of tariff readjustment in September-October, before the Duma starts discussing the next year’s federal budget. RZD vicepresident Salman Babayev in September proposed two tariff scenarios for 2017 - one that would lift all rates by 6.8pc and a second in which tariffs are raised based on cargo classification. Under the latter proposal, tariffs for class-1 cargoes - excluding some coal grades, iron ore and mineral fertilizers - would grow by 8.2pc, while tariffs for class-2 cargoes - mainly crude and products, coal and iron ore - would rise by 6.8pc. RZD proposes hiking rates for class-3 metals by 4.5pc, although tariffs for all other class-3 cargoes would be unchanged.