Seaports of Ukraine in January-March 2019 handled 36.96 million tonnes of cargo, which is 12.43% more compared to the same period of 2018.
According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, the products of the agro-industrial complex, the mining and smelting complex, container cargoes, as well as fertilizers contributed to the upward dynamics in transshipment.
According to the authority, in January-March, the volume of transshipment of grain cargo amounted to more than 13.7 million tonnes, which is 33.5% more than the same period last year. Ore transshipment increased by more than 30% (7.8 million tonnes against almost 6 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2018). Almost 6% growth was for vegetable oil – about 1.6 million tonnes were already handled.
The growth trend in container cargo handling continues: in the first quarter of 2019, 223,500 TEU were handled, which is more than 14% higher than the same period last year.
“Since the beginning of the sowing campaign, the increase in imports of chemical and mineral fertilizers, both packaged and bulk ones, continues. The total volume of their transshipment in the first quarter of 2019 amounted to almost 640,000 tonnes, which more than twice bigger than the same figure of last year”, the authority said.
As in the first quarter of 2018, the growth in total transshipment volumes took place primarily thanks to exports, which increased by almost 5 million tonnes (a rise of 20.1%), while imports and transit, on the contrary, decreased by 6.1% and 17.2%, respectively.
In January-March, the Yuzhny port became the absolute leader in terms of cargo handling volumes – 11.6 million tonnes, which is almost 19% more than in the same period of 2018. The figure of 8 million tonnes was exceeded by the port of Mykolaiv: in general, the transshipment volume here reached 8.12 million tonnes, which is more than 26% more than the same period last year. Over three months, the ports of Chornomorsk and Odesa handled over 6 million tonnes of cargo: 6.37 million tonnes and 6.22 million tonnes, respectively.
Since the beginning of 2019, Ukrainian seaports handled 2,838 vessels, which are 15 units less than in January-March 2018.
Some 1,370 passengers used services of water transport in the ports over the period (33% more than a year ago).
The total volume of transportation by rail by Lemtrans in 2018 reached 52.12 million tonnes of different types of cargo, which is 0.43% more than in 2017.
The press service of the company reported that coal and iron ore were the major cargo transported by the company last year.
“The largest growth in the year was in transportation of coal. In particular, the volume of its transportation amounted to 21.24 million tonnes, for iron ore it was 16.13 million tonnes. By the end of 2017, the transportation of these types of cargo amounted to 19.35 million tonnes and 19, 30 million tonnes, respectively,” the company said.
In addition, in 2018, the volume of loading of ferrous metals increased by 21.7%, to 7.45 million tonnes (6.12 million tonnes in 2017) and of coke by 2.43%, to 3.02 million tonnes (2.95 million tonnes). Transportation volumes of fluxes amounted to 3.30 million tonnes (3.50 million tonnes).
During the year, the volume of planned repair of freight wagons of the company at production sites amounted to 6,453 units.
Lemtrans is the largest private operator of railway rolling stock in Ukraine. Its core business is organization of transportation by own rolling stock, rendering transport and forwarding services, information support for cargo movement, as well as rolling stock repairs.
Lemtrans fully belongs to SCM Group of businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
China is planning investment projects for the creation of multimodal cargo terminals in the Ukrainian territory on the border with the EU as part of the development of transit with the European Union. Deputy Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine for European Integration Viktor Dovhan met with Chinese Vice Prime Minister Liu He, the leadership of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, and the Ministries of Transport and Commerce of China within the transport initiative “One Belt, One Road” in Beijing on November 8-9, 2018.
The parties noted the need to develop transit from China to the EU.
“The Chinese side noted that this year 6,500 containers have been transported to Austria, and cargo traffic along the Trans-Caspian international transport route is growing. Investment projects are planned for the creation of multimodal terminals on the border with the EU (Lviv, Kovel, and Uzhgorod),” the Ministry of Infrastructure said.
In addition, the ministry stated that agreements have been achieved on signing an agreement on road transport between Ukraine and China with Deputy Minister of Transport of the People’s Republic of China Liu Xiaoming until May 2019. This agreement will allow companies in both countries to transport goods in the territory of the other state regardless of the established routes, based on the needs of logistics and trade.
