Affected by the sluggish freight situation in the first half of the year, the performance of railway transportation companies in the first three quarters was also affected. Some brokerages pointed out that the future volume and price will have a greater role in promoting the performance of railway companies. As the cost increases, the railway freight rate will continue to increase in the future.
Since the reform of the railway freight organization in June this year, the railway freight market has continued to improve. According to data released by China Railway Corporation recently, driven by the Golden Week holiday, the national railway cargo delivery volume in October was 348.1 million tons, an increase of 23.9 million tons year-on-year, and the average daily cargo delivery was 11.229 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%.
Good development of railway freight
Affected by the reform of the railway freight organization, railway freight has also developed positively. As of September, the cumulative freight volume has been basically the same as that of the same period last year. The data shows that the national railway’s average daily freight loading in October was 142,509 cars, continuing the rebound since mid-to-late July this year, with an increase of 7,788 cars year-on-year and 2,531 cars more than in September, the highest level this year. Among them, coal increased by 3,200 vehicles a day on a year-on-year basis, mine construction increased by 2,413 vehicles, and grain increased by 1,066 vehicles. The increase in the loading of these three categories accounted for more than 80% of the total increase in vehicle loading on the whole road.
Grab the express logistics market to increase revenue
Data show that the after-tax profit of China Railway Corporation in the first half of this year was a loss of 6.5 billion yuan, a slight decrease from the first quarter, while the debt ratio at the end of June continued to rise slightly to 62.58%. Faced with the pressure of insufficient profitability and huge debts to be repaid, the General Administration of Railways is constantly reforming and expanding the market to increase revenue.
After the reform of the railway, the railway company has made frequent actions in logistics and transportation. China Railway Special Cargo Transportation Company has vigorously developed the refrigerated transportation market of southern vegetables and northern transportation and the transportation market of extra-large cargoes. Although the railway has an advantage in the volume of bulk materials, the LTL business also has competition from aviation, road and other transportation methods, and electronic appliances, daily necessities, etc. also face fierce competition from express delivery companies.
In order to compete for the market with highway express, the railway company has launched the transportation products of the express trains. Different from the previous trains that transported a single category of goods, the consolidated express trains are composed of LTL goods, with many cargo owners and miscellaneous categories. In addition, Zhongyuan Railway Logistics also jointly launched small parcel express with SF Express, China Post, etc., and put it into trial operation on the entire Beijing-Guangzhou railway.
Pay attention to railway transportation stocks from freight rate reform and other aspects
In the A-share market, the most important listed railway transportation companies include Daqin Railway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway and Tielong Logistics. Railroad companies have solid performance, and railroad stocks are generally considered defensive stocks. However, in the first half of the year, the performance of listed companies was also affected due to the continued sluggish railway freight volume.
The net profit of Tielong Logistics in the first three quarters was 337 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.04%, and the net profit of Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway was 981 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.22%. Some brokerages said that railway reform is an important catalyst for the railway industry, and the most noteworthy ones are "freight rate reform", "railway diversified development" and "asset injection".
The analysis of Industrial Securities pointed out that the future volume and price will greatly promote the performance of railway companies. From the perspective of freight rates, due to the shortage of funds of the railway company and the increase in railway operating costs, the level of railway freight rates will continue to increase in the future. . In the future, as the economy picks up, it is expected that railway traffic will continue to increase.
