Transport Ministry fires CFR Marfa’s board, CFR Calatori manager also resigns

The Romanian Transport Ministry dismissed the administrative board of state owned railway freight operator CFR Marfa, following a late night board meeting on Wednesday, June 4, according to sources quoted by Hotnews.ro. The board, who had been selected in April 2013, was headed by Liviu Radu. The other members were Bogdan – Ioan Constantinescu, Dan - Teodor Constantinescu, Ionut Georgescu, Vasilica Tugui and George Buruiana. This comes after the company’s general manager, Dan Valentin Belcea, announced his resignation in May, just one month after he was named to this position. Its previous general manager died in February this year. CFR Marfa, which is the largest railway freight operator in Romania with some 55 percent market share, has been struggling for some years now. In the last six years, the company accumulated losses totaling almost EUR 400 million. The company changed board members and managers almost each time someone new came to the Transport Ministry. The company also needs heavy restructuring. CFR Marfa’s privatization process with Romanian buyer Grup Feroviar Roman (GFR), which is also its main competitor, failed in October last year. Meanwhile, GFR’s owner, Romanian businessman Gruia Stoica, was arrested for alleged bid rigging, which is non-related to the privatization. The board change at CFR Marfa comes one day after the general manager of state owned railway passenger carrier CFR Calatori, Valentin Dorobantu, also resigned on personal reasons, according to Mediafax newswire. CFR Calatori is also on loss. Only last year the company posted some EUR 87 million in losses, the largest among companies controlled by the Transport Ministry. The ministry also revoked the board of the Bucharest Airport Company at the end of May, although the company increased its profit by 35 percent, to EUR 16.3 million. Transport minister Dan Sova allegedly told the representatives of the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and World Bank that he wishes to pull out the companies which his ministry controls from the scope of the Government Ordinance number 109 in 2011 which established corporate governance standards for state owned companies, according to Hotnews.ro.