Russia’s freight traffic grew 6.3 per cent to nearly 2.5 trillion tonne-kilometres in 2007 compared to a year earlier, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. He said a total of 12 billion tonnes of freight was carried in 2007, which is more than 2 per cent more than during the previous year, with commercial freight traffic reaching 2,325 billion tonne-kilometres, a 6.6-per cent increase from 2006.
Commercial airfreight traffic saw the biggest rise, which exceeded 16 per cent. Meanwhile, Ivanov acknowledged that Russia was clearly experiencing a deficit of airfreight operations.
Ivanov noted an increase in exports of transportation services, which rose 16.5 per cent to US$7.2 billion during the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the same period a year earlier.