SBB Cargo notes substantial financial losses
Last year, the Swiss rail freight operator SBB Cargo saw its financial losses catastrophically increase from 1,2 million euros in 2021 to a negative result of 191 million euros. That was almost 80 per cent of the total loss of the mother company SBB in 2022.
The reason for the bad state of affairs at SBB Cargo, according to its mother company, was a substantial write-down of no less than 130,5 million euros on the company’s book value. In addition, there was the loss of corona support last year.
One-time correction
According to the management, the depreciation is a ‘one-off correction’ resulting from a ‘valuation test’ last year. This brought to light that the stated value of SBB Cargo AG in the books was no longer sufficient.
The fact that there had to be so much depreciation had everything to do with the uncertain prospects for rail freight transport in Switzerland, which can only be kept afloat with a lot of government support.
At the end of last year, the Swiss government shared plans to possibly exclude single wagonload traffic from financial support schemes. Single wagonload is an integral part of rail freight transport in Switzerland, and according to SBB’s management, the financial uncertainty has major consequences for the value of its cargo division.
International losses too
SBB Cargo International also dealt with many headwinds last year. The loss for the international freight carrier rose from just under 306,000 euros in 2021 to almost 20 million euros last year. This financial setback was caused by, among other things, the disruptions to the German rail network due to construction work and the high electricity costs.
This article appeared originally on our sister publication NT.nl.
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