Ukrzaliznitsya To Lease 40 ths Carriages By 2010

Last week Ukraine’s state railway monopoly Ukrzaliznitsya (UZ), announced that it had increased the number of carriages it plans to lease to no less than 10 ths annually until 2010. Olha Pankiv: In September, UZ’s management said that it was switching to leasing carriages instead of buying and planned to buy 10ths carriages in 2007 only. Later, Kryukivka Wagon Works (KVBZ) announced that it had signed a deal to lease 1000 freight cars to the state railway monopoly Ukrzaliznytsya. KVBZ will deliver the first half of the order by the end of the year and the remaining 500 in 1Q07. As UZ’s new CEO is a former manager for System Capital Management, we believe it is likely that Mariupol Heavy Machinery (MZVM: BUY) and Azovzahalmash (AZGM: BUY) will supply the bulk of carriages to Ukrzaliznitsya.