PKP Cargo, the state-owned Polish railway cargo operator, is looking to buy rail freight operators on the German market, the company’s CEO, Wojciech Balczun.
PKP has assessed several German operators in the past years, but it has to reassess potential acquisitions after being granted the license for operation in the German network.
The CEO said wholly owned subsidiary PKP Cargo International, created to operate outside Poland, could possibly also make purchases of its own.

In 2010 CFL Cargo (joint venture company between CFL and steel concern ArcelorMittal) signed a cooperation agreement with PKP CARGO International (joint venture company between Trade Trans and PKP CARGO) to promote the sale and production of freight transports on cross-border traffics, preferentially on the East-West axis. The result of deeper and more committing cooperation is a creation of a common company PKP CARGO CFL International S.A. (joint venture company between CFL Cargo and PKP CARGO International) with the seat in Luxembourg, founded in December 2011.

On 19 March 2012 the company PKP CARGO S.A. obtained the safety certificate "Part B" and thus accessed to the rail network of ÖBB infrastructure.
The certificate was presented in Vienna to the Board of PKP CARGO by the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology.
This approach is a further step towards to the possibility that PKP Cargo can operate railway transport in several countries in Central and Western Europe.

Marketing and organization of these transport is under the competence of PKP Cargo International, a.s.

As part of the service offer of PKP Cargo International further transports from Bosnia to Ostrava will be done for the company ArcelorMittal (see our news from 17 February).

The most interesting thing is that these shipments will be carried out by PKP CARGO SA on the routes in Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. It concerns a volume of 400,000 tons and additionally further 300,000 tons from Bosnia to Poland to Dabrowa Gornicza and Krakow Nowa Huta.

Regular, cross-border transports have started on the 5th of February – current year -, as part of an extensive offer from side of PKP Cargo International to the company ArcelorMittal and within the strategy of the PKP CARGO LOGISTICS Group.

These transports are running to Romania and are being dispatched by PKP CARGO on the route Dabrowa Gornicza Towarowa – Muszyna/Plavec (Polish-Slovak border crossing) - Cana / Hidasnémeti (Slovak-Hungarian border crossing). Two up to four trains are planed to run on this route daily.

The traffic of the container terminal Railport Arad increased significantly at the end of the last year, because beginning with mid Dezember three blocktrains are running between Genk In Belgium and Curtici In Romania each week. Another 3 pairs of trains are bringing semitrailers from Germany, which are sent towards Turkey. The different involved railway operators and their clients are planning to increase even more the frequency of the blocktrains, which makes necessary the second step of the investment.