Hungary is interested in the continuation of natural gas transit across Ukraine, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
“I don’t understand why not ship gas via the southeastern route [after the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline]. Hungary views this matter from a strategic standpoint, because the absence of transit across Ukraine would cause damage to our country,” Szijjarto said at a press conference following negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Each country should make decisions on sources and routes of energy supply primarily based on its own national interests,” he said.
Transport enterprises of Ukraine (excluding the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of the JFO zone) in January-July 2021 increased transportation of goods by 4.7% compared to the same period in 2020, up to 342.3 million tonnes, the State Statistics Service reported.
According to its data, the freight turnover of carriers for the specified period increased by 1.6%, to 161.9 billion tonne-kilometers.
According to statistics, in January-July 2021, some 173.4 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in domestic traffic and for export, which is 3% more than in January-July 2020. Some 120.8 million tonnes (more by 17.6%) were transported by road, 2.6 million tonnes (down by 4.8%) by water, 45.4 million tonnes (less by 14.5%) by pipeline, 100,000 tonnes (more by 4.5%) by air.
The Turkish container line Akkon Lines starts operating in Ukraine, choosing for ship calls DP World TIS Pivdennyi (Odesa region) container terminal in the country.
“This regular weekly service will provide direct and fast connections between the container terminal at Pivdenny port, in Odesa region in Ukraine, and the key Turkish ports Ambarli and Gebze,” TIS Pivdennyi said in a statement.
The corresponding agreement was signed on August 26, 2021 by Ihor Zhihor, the CEO of DP World TIS Pivdennyi terminal, and Salim Isil, the CEO of AKKON Shipping. The first call to DP World TIS Pivdennyi is expected in the first ten days of September.
“Shorter and more flexible routes will speed up maritime logistics between DP World TIS Pivdennyi and Turkey, and make it easier for Ukrainian business to access other Turkish ports, in particular Gemlik, Mersin and Aliaga. As a result, Ukrainian cargo owners will be able to get additional convenient access to the Mediterranean and North African markets,” the report says.
Akkon Lines notes that such cooperation will give the company access to the multimodal infrastructure of Ukrainian partners, including the network of the so-called dry ports and railway terminals.
DP World TIS Pivdennyi is a container terminal located in the water area of Pivdenny seaport in Odesa region with berth depths of 15 meters and five STS cranes in one line. The terminal has its own well-developed railway infrastructure and regular block train service.
The terminal’s container throughput in 2020 amounted to almost 245,000 TEU, having increased by 12% compared to 2019.
Akkon Lines container line was founded in 2018 under the auspices of AKKON Maritime Transport and Trade A.S. and in partnership with Akarlar Shipping. It specializes in container shipping in the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins. Akkon Lines, in addition to container transportation services, offers ground transportation and logistics services for storage, customs clearance, etc.
Ukraine is negotiating with the governments of states and manufacturers of the Moderna vaccine on the supply of this drug to Ukraine, the Ministry of Health has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Health and the government of Ukraine are negotiating both with the governments of the countries and with the manufacturers of vaccines regarding the possible supply of these drugs to Ukraine,” the Ministry of Health said.
The department reported that as of August 24, there were 805,652 doses of Moderna vaccine in warehouses in Ukraine.
The ministry clarified that the available Moderna vaccine will be used mainly for vaccination with the second dose of citizens who were vaccinated with the first dose.
As of August 24, there are more than 11 million vaccines from various manufacturers in national, regional and local warehouses.
OKKO (Galnaftogaz Concern) has opened a new filling complex in Kharkiv, which became the 26th in the region and the 415th in the network.
According to the group’s press release, the new filling station has six fuel dispensers with five types of fuel, including the brands Pulls 95, Pulls Diesel, and a gas module. At the filling station there is also a shop, a cafe, and a heat showcase with ready-made meals.
Since the beginning of 2021, this is the fifth opening of a new filling station in the network: in January, June and July, OKKO opened four modern complexes in Bila Tserkva, Dnipro, Odesa and Lviv.
The OKKO filling station network is part of OKKO Group and is one of the largest filling networks in Ukraine, which numbers 415 filling complexes.
The structure of the company also includes the largest network of on-road catering establishments operating under the brands Hot café, A la minute, Pasta Mia and Meiwei. The company’s divisions are engaged in the sale of goods through stores at filling stations, the sale of petroleum products in large and small wholesale, provide services for the examination of fuel quality, storage and transportation of petroleum products.
The OKKO network has ten own oil depots, a gas pumping station, Kherson oil transshipment complex, 19 stationary and mobile laboratories for quality control of oil products.
The majority shareholder of the company is Vitaliy Antonov, among the minority shareholders is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to announce an open international tender for the purchase of rolling stock for the City Express project at the end of September, acting chairman of the board Oleksandr Kamyshin said.
“In February, the president [Volodymyr Zelensky] announced the City Express project in Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv. Ukrzaliznytsia has intensified work in this direction. Today we are designing stations, completing a feasibility study of the project and terms of reference for the purchase of rolling stock for the Kyiv hub. In the near future we will send terms of reference for all Ukrainian and international potential participants in the purchase of rolling stock. At the end of September, we plan to announce an open international tender, where we will be glad to see both Stadler and other ready-made suppliers of rolling stock,” he said during the presentation of a five-car electric train Stadler Flirt of the Swiss company Stadler.
Kamyshin said that Stadler Flirt has been tested in Ukraine for a week.
“It is important for us to understand how good the technical and service indicators of this train are. We will be testing it for several more weeks. I think Ukrainians deserve a train of this level,” he said.
According to Stadler Rail Group CEO Peter Spuhler, the company has already sold about 2,000 units of Stadler Flirt.
Stadler Flirt is a family of passenger electric and diesel trains manufactured by the Swiss company Stadler Rail AG. FLIRT is an abbreviation (Flinker Leichter Innovativer Regional-Triebzug – German, translated as a high-speed light innovative regional train). The first train was designed and delivered in 2004. The maximum train speed is 160-200 km/h.
