INTERCONTAINER-INTERFRIGO REPORTS NET DEFICIT, TRAFFIC FALL

INTERCONTAINER-INTERFRIGO REPORTS NET DEFICIT, TRAFFIC FALL

   Intercontainer-Interfrigo, the large pan-European intermodal group owned by European railways, reported a net deficit of euro1 million (about $1 million) for 2000, compared to a net profit of euro5 million in the previous year.

   Revenue decreased by 9 percent during the year, to euro332 million ($312 million), from euro364 million in 1999.

   Earnings before interest and tax last year were a profit of euro3 million (about $3 million), as compared to a deficit of euro11.5 million in 1999.

   As announced previously, Intercontainer-Interfrigo also lost traffic volumes last year. It carried about 962,000 TEUs in 2000, down 11 percent from the 1.1-million moved in the previous year.

   Intercontainer-Interfrigo said that the drop in volume can be explained by two main factors: its corporate strategy of putting profit before volume; and external factors such as the closure of a car plant in Plonsk, Poland.

   However, the intermodal group said that its volumes and market shares increased on highly competitive routes such as Belgium/Italy, Germany/Hungary and Germany/Austria.