Novinky

For the first time in the history of AWT, the company reached the milestone of exceeding one billion tonne-kilometres in rail transport output in the course of a single year. As a forwarder, in 2011 we transported by rail a volume of goods, whose weight in tonnes multiplied by kilometres travelled, exceeded a ten-figure value, specifically 1,017,797,000 tonne-kilometres. AWT is among the largest private rail carrier in Europe. 

“Rail transport has always been our key domain and the announced numbers provide clear evidence of that. The results achieved last year indicate that AWT is a stable company that is standing firm not only on the domestic forwarding market but also, with growing success, on international markets,” said David Kostelník, AWT Rail Business Line Director, expressing the company’s contentment.

AWT transports mainly primary materials by rail, such as coal, steel, chemical products and timber. While the volumes transported remain stable, the average distances travelled by rail continuously increase. In 2010, the number of tonne-kilometres slightly exceeded 935 million, while in 2011 the number topped 1.017 billion, marking a year on year increase of nearly one tenth. Domestic forwarding contributed the greatest share to the result, but as already mentioned, the growth is found in particular in international transport. An increase of approximately five per cent compared to 2010 was recorded for rail sidings operated across the country, where the company handled in excess of 35 million tonnes of cargo in loading and unloading last year.

However, the most rapid growth occurred in combined transport. It was already apparent that during 2011 the container numbers handled at the independent AWT terminal in Ostrava-Paskov would reach record values. The breaking of the 41,000 mark had been expected, but the terminal eventually handled nearly 43,000 containers and swap bodies. That represents an increase of almost 115 per cent compared to 2010.

AWT also recorded an increase of more than a fifth in the use of intermodal ACTS containers in cargo shipments. A total of 13,320 ACTS containers were handled last year, marking an increase of nearly three thousand on the year before. This system of combined transport, offered in the Czech Republic only by AWT, was used to ship more than 173,000 tonnes of mostly bulk materials, such as waste materials, briquettes, coke, construction materials and similar cargoes.