DUSHANBE, August 5, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Uzbekistan raises rail transit cargo fees for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan starting on August 9, Ms. Suzanna Khachaturova, the chairperson of the tariffs department at Tajik Railways, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to her, it is the second rate rise this year.  “The first rate rise took place on February 1, when the Uzbek state rail company raised the basic rate by 10 percent, and therefore, compared to January 2010 the transit cargo fees have risen 21 percent,” Khachaturova said, adding that it was within the framework of the current regulation.

“Under the tariff policy, any rail company has the right to raise its rates twice a year; however, some companies do this and some others don’t,” she noted.

The Tajik Railways official said the rates are changed depending on the type and the number of loaded cars.

According to the preliminary estimates of specialists from Tajik Railways, if the volume of Tajikistan-bound cargo shipped by rail over the first half-year of 2010 remains the same in the second half-year, the rise in transit cargo fees will result in Tajik carriers’ bearing additional losses in an amount of 5.5 million U.S. dollars.

We will recall that over the first six months of this year, Tajik Railways has shipped 393,300 tons of Tajik export products, which is 52,700 tons more than in the same period last year.   In January-June 2010, 1.899 million tons of import goods have been shipped to the country by rail transportation, which is 117,800 tons fewer than in the same period last year.