OREANDA-NEWS. December 15, 2009. Freight One’s Nizhny Novgorod branch has hauled more than 40,000 metric tons of scrap metal to OJSC Severstal since the two companies started collaborating.

In May, the branch started hauling scrap to Severstal’s Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, Russia’s second largest steel mill. The scrap metal is loaded at dozens of stations of the Gorky Railway located in 13 regions of Russia.

Traffic volumes are growing steadily: a mere 1000 metric tons were hauled in May, more than 5000 in July, and more than 10,000 in October.

The growth in scrap metal traffic can be attributed first and foremost to an increase in production at the steel mill. The company currently operates at 100% capacity utilization as it steadily increases its share of domestic sales, which is evidence of a revival in industrial production in the country.

OJSC Freight One also hauls scrap metal to Vyksunsky (Vyksa) Steel Works, the largest in the Volga Federal District, and soon it will begin to haul finished products-pipes of various diameters-from this company in gondola cars.

"This type of haulage is also interesting from the point of view of logistics: the gondolas that arrive at the factories with scrap metal are loaded with finished goods, thereby reducing empty runs. It’s more efficient this way," said the branch’s Acting Director Alexander Kornyshev.