ČD Cargo realized a profit before tax under International Accounting Standards (IFRS) of CZK 290 million for 2021. This is a year-on-year improvement of CZK 674 million. CZK. The freight carrier managed to return to profit despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the ČD Cargo Group transported a total of 62.8 million tonnes of goods under its own licence, up 1.8 million tonnes year-on-year. Not only did performance on the domestic rail transport market increase, expansion abroad also continued. ČD Cargo is now active in Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. A new subsidiary, CD Cargo Adria, has also been established in Croatia.
"The year 2021 was marked by growth in transport volumes and revenues in most of the key commodities, with the exception of automotive and combined transport, which were however hampered by a number of external influences. The growing performance of ČD Cargo abroad, which contributed substantially to the results achieved, is very positive. Expansion abroad is an important pillar of our strategy. Today, ČD Cargo should be seen as a Group operating on the fully liberalised European market for rail freight transport and logistics services. Already over 62% of our performance is in international transport and we still have growth potential here. This is also linked to our second strategic objective, which is the renewal and modernisation of our fleet of freight wagons and locomotives, without which we cannot succeed on the European transport market. The stabilisation and rationalisation measures on the one hand, which have been gradually adopted since the second half of the pandemic-hit year 2020, together with the growing demand on the transport market on the other hand, have significantly helped us to develop and further fulfil these long-term strategic objectives in 2021," says Tomáš Tóth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ČD Cargo, a.s.
In 2021, ČD Cargo had to cope with operational complications caused not only by extensive lockout activity and unprecedentedly growing demand for lignite transport.
