By the end of 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia’s branch, the Transport Logistics Center (TLC), will receive 120 units of new grain carriers of the 19-8005-U model, the center’s website reports.
“Grain carriers are designed to operate throughout the entire 1520 mm gauge railroad network and have the ability to be switched from 1520 mm gauge type 2 bogies to 1435 mm gauge bogies with screw ties and buffer devices, with a design speed of up to 120 km/h, which eliminates the need to connect coupling cars,” the Center for Transportation Logistics said.
According to the report, the grain carriers with a carrying capacity of 69.5 tons have a body volume of 104 cubic meters, size 02-VM, five loading and six unloading hatches.
IMC Agro Holding has formed its own fleet of 150 grain carriers and intends to double it by the end of the year.
According to the agricultural holding’s website, IMC purchased 140 railcars manufactured by Kryukiv Carriage Works, and another 10 grain cars manufactured by Karpaty DMZ were received from the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine project aimed at supporting export logistics and modernizing Ukraine’s border crossing points for efficient agricultural exports.
“The emergence of our own railcar fleet in our company is a significant event. As IMC is an export-oriented company, two of the three crops we grow (winter wheat and corn) are actually fully sold to foreign markets, and the optimal export sales channel for us is rail transportation to seaports with further transportation by sea to the end consumer. Accordingly, we need to transport an average of 60-70 thousand tons of grain to the ports by rail every month. Having its own railcar fleet will allow the agricultural holding to significantly save on the cost of rail logistics,” explained IMC CEO Oleksandr Verzhykhovsky.
According to him, IMC plans to add another 150 grain carriers to its railcar fleet by the end of 2024, so that next year up to 80% of the company’s grain will be exported using its own railcar fleet.
In early August, the agricultural holding sent grain from its elevators to ports in its own grain wagons for the first time, the company said.
“IMC is an integrated group of companies operating in Sumy, Poltava and Chernihiv regions (north and center of Ukraine) in the crop production, elevators and warehouses segments.
The Group’s land bank is about 120 thousand hectares, with storage capacity of 554 thousand tons and a 2023 harvest of 1.002 million tons.
In 2023, IMC posted a net loss of $21.03 million compared to $1.12 million a year earlier, and its EBITDA decreased 11.3 times to $3.22 million. The holding’s revenue increased by 22.3% to $139.45 million, while the share of exports decreased to 68% from 73% a year earlier.
Starting November 1, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) will change the average speed of its own grain hoppers to increase their competitiveness in the freight market, Valery Tkachev, deputy director of UZ’s commercial operations department, said at a meeting with grain market participants on Thursday.
Thus, the following speeds will be applied to grain carriers moving towards port stations: 111 km/day for carload shipments (the current rate is 50 km/day), and 253 km/day for route shipments (against the current 138 km/day).
The movement of grain carriers towards the western border crossings will also accelerate. It will increase from 50 to 61 km/day for group shipments and from 50 to 187 km/day for route shipments.
The average speeds of grain carriers in domestic traffic and imports have been revised. For freight shipments, the figure will be 57 km/day compared to the current 50 km/day, and for route shipments – 128 km/day (currently 118 km/day).
These changes are expected to increase UZ’s competitive advantage in the grain transportation market.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” announced Dutch auctions through “Prozorro.Sales” 300 grain carriers of the branch “Center of transport logistics” for the transportation of agricultural products to ports.
According to the message on the electronic trading platform, 40 lots of 5 wagons and 10 lots of 10 wagons in group shipments in the direction of ports (except for Izmail and Reni) are offered at the auction. The starting rate is 600 UAH/day and may decrease to 354 UAH/day.
Loading is possible in the period of October 19-31, 2023.
The auction is scheduled for October 13. Applications for participation in the auction are also accepted until October 13 inclusive.
Prometey Group has bought 5 new DAF grain trucks with Wielton semi-trailers, thanks to which its truck fleet has expanded to 45 units, follows from a press release from the grain trader on Friday.
It is specified that the next delivery of 10 tractors with semi-trailers will take place in the first ten days of October. In total, by the end of the year, the group of companies plans to increase the fleet of grain carriers to 100 units.
“An appropriate strategy for the development of transport logistics will become a competitive advantage and will reduce the group’s logistics costs. In addition, in connection with the war, the issue of mobility of any company is more than relevant. The Grain Corridor partially reoriented logistics routes leading to the western border of Ukraine to the south , but it cannot be said that this change will lead to a significant reduction in the need for trucks,” the grain trader specified in a press release.
As reported, in June Prometey announced its intention to expand its fleet of cargo grain carriers to 100 units by the end of 2022. Also in June, the grain trader signed an agreement with the state-owned Ukrgasbank to receive UAH 450 million in financing for a sowing campaign and trading activities in agricultural products.
In August, the group of companies received the first batch of 19 new MAN TGX tractors coupled with Wielton semi-trailers.
GC “Prometey” provides services for the storage, processing and logistics of grain and leguminous crops on the basis of 29 elevators in Mykolaiv, Kirovograd, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky, Zaporozhye, Sumy, Odessa, Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
At the end of 2021, the group of companies planned to receive $45 million in EBITDA, while in 2020 this figure reached $32.6 million, and in 2019 – $30.5 million.
The Tekhkomplekt special equipment plant, which has production facilities in the Kyiv and Poltava regions, has begun production of grain trucks with a large load under the AGRiLine marking, the company reports on its website.
“The first model of a grain carrier, called MEGA Koshmanivets, was released in partnership with our dealer, Eridon Tech, and the entire line of grain carriers will be produced under the AGRiLine label and will be mounted on truck chassis, semi-trailers and trailers,” the message says.
The body of the grain truck MEGA Koshmanivets has unloading back and on the right side, the volume of loading with agricultural crops is designed for 35 cubic meters. m.
A Chinese truck with a gross weight of 33.5 tons and a permissible load capacity of 24.5 tons is used as the base chassis, but, as noted in the message, a grain carrier with such a body volume and based on any other chassis with a gross weight of 32 tons or more is recommended to load up to 20 tons.
Among the advantages of the grain truck body, Tekhkomplekt notes the use of Strenx 700 high-strength steel for the manufacture of load-bearing elements of the platform and sides, Hyva hydraulics, imported factory fittings for tipping the body, and other structural advantages.
The production of AGRiLine grain carriers has passed the necessary tests and is certified by Ukrainian notification authorities.
The plant is currently forming a portfolio of orders for 2023.
Plant “Tekhkomplekt” is an enterprise with a full cycle of production of special equipment and superstructures on the chassis of cars of various brands. The resources of the enterprise allow to repair and re-equip up to 100 trucks and commercial vehicles monthly. For 24 years of operation, the plant has shipped more than 35 thousand units to customers. special equipment.
Earlier it was reported that in connection with the abandonment of the Belarusian (MAZ) and Russian (GAZ) manufacturers, which were previously actively used as new base chassis, Tekhkomplekt is expanding their model range, including through Asian manufacturers.
