The state carrier is losing share in the Polish market. The German company is catching up with them

Ashley Davis27/02/2026

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If we go back, the beginning of PKP Cargo's problems was probably the investment in the Czech Republic. But even without this, the company cannot cope with domestic competition. And at the same time, it got into real problems by fulfilling the wishes of the state after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which initially provided profits, only to then take away its previous clients.

On Friday, the Office of Rail Transport presented market statistics for January. And PKP Cargo's market share by weight of goods dropped to 26.8 percent with 28.4 percent a year earlier in the same month. And this was during a colder winter, i.e. at a time when there was a need to transport more coal than last year. It is true that in the whole of last year this share was even smaller and amounted to 26.6%, but each month has its own characteristics, including: in the case of coal transport, so it is more correct to compare year to year. And here you can see a clear and sharp decline.

If we add the transport results of the subsidiary PKP Cargo Service, this market share increases to 27.5 percent, but a year ago in January it was 29.1 percent.

The German carrier conquers the Polish market

At the same time, it is clear who is benefiting from the weakness of the Polish state-owned carrier. First of all, it needs to be replaced second on the DB Cargo marketa subsidiary of the German, wholly owned state-owned carrier Deutsche Bahn. This is the second year that it has regained market share.

This time, this share by weight of goods increased to 16.3%. with 15.9 percent a year earlier. In 2013, still as DB Schenker Rail Polska, the company had 22.8 percent, so it should be treated as a market rebound, at the expense of PKP Cargo.

It is also pushing itself more and more effectively on the market Orlen Kolej. In January, the carrier achieved as much as 8.8 percent. mass market of goods. This is a historical record for this company, which three years ago was called Lotos Kolej. A year ago in January, the share was 7.4%.

In transport performance, i.e. tonne-kilometers, Orlen Kolej has up to 13.7 percent. market compared to 12.5 percent a year earlier. For comparison, PKP Cargo had 27.8 percent. compared to 26.7 percent a year ago, and DB Cargo 5.7 percent. (5.2% a year ago).

As you can see, the market is dominated by state-owned or indirectly state-owned entities, such as Orlen Kolej. Carriers of other state-owned companies are also present: Pol-Miedź Trans with 2.2 percent. market (KGHM) and JSW Logistics with 0.9 percent. market that provide transport for their owners.

From 2024, Qemetica Cargo, a subsidiary of Qemetica (formerly Ciech) from the Sebastian Kulczyk group, is also present in the statistics. Since PKP Cargo complained that it lost important customers due to extraordinary transport for the state, there are many indications that it was one of them.

The market is shrinking

UTK reported that in January 2026, the railway transported over 16.1 million tons of goods, which means a decrease of almost 1.5 million tons (-8.4%) compared to the volume recorded a year earlier. Transport performance exceeded 4 billion tonne-kilometers, which is result lower by 0.4 billion tonne-kilometers (-8.7%) compared to January 2025.

UTK reports that in recent years, a lower weight of transported goods in January was recorded only in January 2016 (15.7 million tons). In the case of transport performance, lower values were recorded in January 2020.