Russia: During the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a railcar builder signed two agreements worth more than 20 bln RUR ($350 mln USD).
Thus, the United Wagon Company (UWC) signed a memorandum on the supply of 5,000 12-9853 gondola cars with unloading hatches and a 25-t axle load for the Ural Mining Holding (UMH). The railcars are expected to be shipped in batches until 2024. The customer is interested in creating its own car fleet, and now UMH operates more than 8,000 cars, says Sergey Mazurkevich, CEO of the company.
12-9853 gondola cars have been produced by UWC for more than 10 years. It is noted that its maximum mileage without uncoupling for current repairs is fixed at over 700 thsd km. In total, UWC’s portfolio on the website contains 5 models of railcars: the manufacturer claims that more than 91,000 gondola cars with a 25-t axle load are currently in operation in Russia (56% of the gondola car fleet with such an axle load).
The car builder also signed an agreement with Uralchem for the deliveries of 1,494 19-9835-01 hopper wagons for minerals, also with a 25-t axle load. The rolling stock is to be delivered within 2022. UWC indicates that this wagon allows loading an additional 6 t of heavy cargo compared to hoppers with a 23.5-t axle load. The hopper of this model UWC has also been supplying to the market for more than 10 years.
12-9853 gondola car. Source: UWC
19-9835-01 hopper wagon for minerals. Source: UWC
The total volume of signed agreements should allow UWC to increase the contract base by more than 30%. Thus, in early June, Evgeny Kuzmenko, Managing Director of UWC’s main production site, the Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant (TVSZ), reported that the company’s contract base included an order for more than 20,000 railcars. At the same time, TVSZ, the TikhvinKhimMash and TikhvinSpetsMash sites (all are parst of UWC) announced a shutdown period for the whole of June due to difficulties with the tapered bearing units supply, and the June’s production program was rescheduled to the second half of the year.
