Karanovic & Partners has provided its analysis of the Serbian railway freight transport market to the World Bank Group and the Serbian Competition Commission. The firm's analysis — conducted in partnership with the Compass Lexecon consulting company — was provided as part of the Program for Improving the Business Environment in Serbia.
According to Karanovic & Partners, “the World Bank Group conducted a study of the railway freight transport market in the Republic of Serbia in accordance with the Agreement on Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the International Finance Corporation. While conducting the research [for the study], Compass Lexecon and Karanovic & Partners interviewed the key undertakings and regulatory authorities in order to obtain the necessary market information."
"The subject of this comprehensive analysis," the firm reported, "is the rail freight market with a detailed analysis of the value chain of railway traffic, market structure analysis, market dynamics, analysis of the regulatory environment, market performance and analysis of competition in the market through the identification of practices and rules that may distort competition.”
Karanovic & Partners reports that “the analysis did not identify any significant competition concerns, but for the purpose of improvement of the relevant railway freight transport market in Serbia – our analysis recommends: upgrading of the railway infrastructure, modernization of path allocation, smart operational procedures, price liberalization, and access fee reform, as well as regular market monitoring activities. As a result, low quality of railway infrastructure, an outdated procedure for allocating routes, and the absence of intermodal terminals were identified as the main reasons for the underdevelopment of the market and as significant barriers to entry.”
Karanovic & Partners’ team included Partner Bojan Vuckovic, Counsel Leonid Ristev, and Associates Srdjan Dabetic, Igor Radovanovic, and Stefan Savic.
