PKP CARGO concluded a contract with army in Poland

In recent times, a contract was concluded between the Polish army and PKP CARGO for the provision of military transport in the total amount of PLN 1.4 billion for a period of 7 years. The framework agreement was concluded without an open call for tenders.

The new framework agreement between PKP CARGO S.A., the largest state-shared freight carrier and the Polish army, its logistics and transport section, guarantees to the Polish carrier a volume of army transport in the total amount of PLN 1.4 billion for the next 7 years. The whole agreement is interesting, among even other reasons, why it was concluded without a tender and thus the possibility of participation of private carriers. Poland, it‘s army command responsible for logistics relies on a very dense infrastructure and the resulting ability of the carrier to provide transport according to ad-hoc requirements, in the required quantity and on short time orders, which are not only in Poland basic requirements of the army with regard to its functionality.

Poland has set up a crisis regime in law for case of a threat to the state and it includes the critical infrastructure of the Polish freight carrier. Individual transports will then be carried out in national and international relations and on the basis of separate contracts. At the same time, the carrier benefits from many years of experience in cooperating with the Polish army and most likely takes care of its infrastructure and logistics operations, such as balancing the circulation of cars with regard to the already tested and expected requirements of the army command.

The Polish Army is an important member of NATO structures and regularly participates in most European Allied exercises. It can therefore be expected that the carrier will make extensive use of the rail networks of other European countries and will cooperate on specific logistics related to military transport with national railway operators in the EU in providing not only transfers to exercises, but also for deployment in NATO missions in the EU.

The whole agreement reveals the importance and specifics of military transport. Demand for broad infrastructure and flexibility is met only by few commercial carriers, so armies often resort to proven networked, partly state-controlled carriers, which are mostly the heirs of large-scale infrastructure and fleets after more or less successful privatization and have agreements with the state to provide basic serviceability in times of crisis or war threat. In these cases, the railway itself does not lose its tactical significant value even in the 21st century, especially for its flexibility and high capacity of transported tons of freight, as well as the wide logistical possibilities associated with the branched network.