Prihláste sa na odber noviniek
The use of coal for households heating and electricity generation is a matter of past in Europe. However, coal transport by rail is not. Black coal is an essential commodity for many heavy industry products. Without coal, we would have no metals, much needed to manufacture cars, home appliances, mobile phones, building constructions and many other things of our daily consumption. ZSSK CARGO enables the supply of this coal from all over the world, thanks to regular trains loaded on the shores of the Baltic Sea.
Despite concerns about the impact of the corona crisis on industrial orders, negative forecasts have not materialized. After the first waves of the pandemic, the demand for building materials rose sharply, ranging from wood to polystyrene and, most recently, cement. Steel was a part of this increase, both in demand and prices. Its production bastion in Slovakia has traditionally been the town of Košice. In order for production to be able to meet the demand, a stable supply of raw materials is needed. In the steel industry, this means mainly the iron ore that comes from Ukraine and Russia. Subsequently, it is limestone, transported to Košice from nearby Gemer region. And, last but not least, it is the coal that is needed to make coke. These three basic raw materials keep all steel plants rolling.
Mining Decline in Ostrava Region, Coal from Overseas
In the past, transport flows were set up ideally: Wagons loaded with iron ore went from Eastern Europe to steel producers in the Ostrava region. This region, in turn, benefited from the rich reserves of hard coal, and so the same wagons were used to transport coal to Košice. But even this ideal logistics cycle did not last forever. With the decline in mining in the northeast of the Czech Republic, it was necessary to ensure the supply of more than one million tons of coal to the steel plant in Košice.
The solution turned out to be the coal imported from overseas. Today, black coal used in blast furnaces in Košice has its origins in such exotic destinations as South Africa, Canada and Mozambique. Coal is transported around the planet in giant naval ships that travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Between 70 and 100 thousand tons of coal are carried on board with each voyage. After the ships pass along the coast of Denmark and the Øresund strait, which separates this country from Sweden, the ships enter the Baltic Sea. Here, the last four hundred kilometers of sailing await them, before they land at one of the two Polish ports located only 20 kilometers apart - Gdynia and Gdansk. It doesn't get any closer to the hinterland of Europe by boat than this, so the railway needs to step in.
Seventy Tons in a Single Bucket
The role of partners of ZSSK CARGO in ports is to unload tens of thousands of tons of coal and store them safely before loading them into railway wagons. This is not a simple process, as there are 7-8 types of hard coal alone and buyers make references to the currently necessary coal types for loading. The ships are unloaded using cranes, the bucket of which grabs up to 70 tons at a time, i.e. the weight of about three trucks. After being unloaded from ships, the black coal is dusted with white powdered cellulose to prevent black dust from blowing into the surroundings in the densely populated area of the so-called Tricity (Gdansk, Sopot, Gdynia). When unloading ships, companies such as HES Gdynia Bulk Terminal, must also take into account that if one of the cruise ships sailing in the Baltic Sea is moored in the port, coal unloading cannot take place at that time - such is the agreement with the city. Subsequently, the coal is transported to warehouses, where the piles consisting of 50.000 – 80.000 tons of coal are ready for loading into railway wagons. The Eas wagons are loaded in Gdańsk or Gdynia, and with two rail scales, their weight and load distribution are, if necessary, adjusted by a smaller loader. The sets of wagons are then completed into a unit train and handed over at the station for the ZSSK CARGO to take over the relay.
Inter Cargo in Tandem with ZSSK CARGO
Operation on the Polish market is provided by ZSSK CARGO through the company Inter Cargo, jointly owned through BULK TRANSSHIPMENT SLOVAKIA (BTS). As a carrier, Inter Cargo is responsible for coordinating the movement of trains throughout Poland. These are driven by the BTS Class 183 locomotives (a total of 22 units), or one of the four pairs of the Class 131 locomotives, which the company owns thanks to an increase of the non-cash deposit in the company from ZSSK CARGO. It is necessary to harmonize the entire supply chain, which is constantly in motion, so that the steelworks do not get stuck without coal and, on the contrary, coal does not accumulate on the quay in Polish ports.
Across Poland, Through Plaveč, as well as Čadca
The advantage of the cooperation between BTS, Inter Cargo and ZSSK CARGO is the carriage all the way across Poland - and ideally also Slovakia - with a single locomotive at the front of the train. It consists of 33 - 40 wagons, depending on whether a Class 183 locomotive or a Class 131 locomotive is heading the coal train.
Class 183 locomotives cross the 600-kilometer route through Poland to be replaced at the Slovak border by one of the "twins", Class 131. On the contrary, the “twins” can handle the whole section on their own.
The routing is done via both via Plaveč and Čadca cross-border stations. The Čadca crossing is more permeable and double-tracked, but the shorter route is the one that leads through Plaveč. In both cases, however, these trains meet steep inclines of rail lines at the Slovak border. That is also why the trains, which are led through the Plaveč crossing station, are divided into 2 - 3 parts in the Polish station of Nowy Sącz. Locomotives pull individual parts one by one to the Slovak territory, where one-unit train is built again.
Over 50 Coal Trains per Month
Each train weighs almost two thousand tons and on average, there are 52 of such trains heading from Polish ports to Košice per month. These are almost two trains every single day, including weekends. At the same time, blast furnaces in Košice swallow more coal than this one million tons, which arrive in unit trains from the Baltic coast. From the Polish shaft in Slawkow near Katowice, 32 wagon sets consisting of JSW and Inter Cargo joint wagons regularly depart. And Ostrava region has not completely dampened mining, so sets, composed of half of the ČD Cargo and ZSSK CARGO wagons, run regularly from the north-east of Czechia too.
Europe is gradually moving towards carbon neutrality. This significantly affected the transport of thermal brown coal. This, once the primary rail freight commodity, has become a marginal one. This is also the case for ZSSK CARGO. Apart from the (now significantly lower) transports from the Czech Nové Sedlo to the heating plant in Žilina, the market for thermal coal transports vanished. But coke and hard coal are still here, as the growing demand for steel requires a consistent flow of coal, even from the Baltic ports to eastern Slovakia, 24/7/365.
