Lemtrans, Ukraine’s largest private rail transportation operator, has completed the first stage of construction of the Vinnytsia container terminal, the company’s press service said on Monday.
“Lemtrans Group has completed the first stage of construction and opened the Vinnytsia container terminal. As part of this stage, a new infrastructure was created: railroad tracks were laid, a container yard with a capacity of up to 2000 TEU was equipped, and a covered warehouse with an area of 3,500 square meters was built,” the statement said.
The total area of the terminal is 8 hectares, and its throughput capacity is 30 thousand TEU per year.
Modern equipment and infrastructure of the terminal provide a significant acceleration of cargo handling, the company said.
“We are creating new opportunities, as the emergence of such a terminal in the region opens up access to global logistics for cargo owners, both large and small. This means that exporters and importers no longer depend on the size of the consignment or the influence of global trading companies,” the statement quoted Dmytro Balaba, CEO of Container Terminal Vinnytsia, as saying.
The opening of the Vinnytsia container terminal is an important step for the further economic development of the region – investments in the project amounted to about $15 million, the report says.
It is also reported that the terminal has already received the first train, formed in cooperation with UZ CARGO POLAND and the Liski Transport Service Center. The first batch of cargo exceeded 60 TEU. The regular service will connect the Polish port of Gdansk with the terminal in Vinnytsia.
According to Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morgunov, container transportation will allow Vinnytsia community to expand cooperation with other regions of Ukraine and, at the same time, with other European countries.
“We are talking about creating new jobs, increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of our community,” Morgunov said in a statement.
Lemtrans, Ukraine’s largest private railroad operator, reduced the volume of cargo transportation of various types by 9.6% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 17 million tons.
According to the company’s press service on Friday, the bulk of the cargo transported was coal. It accounted for about 79% of the transportation volume (13.5 million tons).
The company mainly transported coal from mines to power plants, the company said. And while the volume of its transportation remained unchanged compared to 2022, the volume of construction materials increased by 30% to 2.9 million tons. The volume of iron ore cargo decreased the most – by 4.1 times, to 0.4 million tons. Other types of cargo were transported at 0.2 million tons.
“Business still depends on the potential threat of destruction of the frontline industry, logistical bottlenecks such as ports and congestion at the EU border. But despite the war, we are not stopping and are focused on the development of Ukraine. Our investment activities were an important area of focus last year. We are investing in new infrastructure projects, such as the terminal and container business,” the press service quoted Lemtrans CEO Volodymyr Mezentsev as saying.
In 2023, Lemtrans Group invested more than UAH 160 million in infrastructure and logistics projects, mainly in the development of the container business. The development of the Mostyska container terminal (Lviv region) continued.
In addition, it was decided to start design work on two new container terminals in Ukraine.
In 2023, Lemtrans implemented an investment program aimed at further improving the efficiency and increasing the productivity of its car repair facilities.
In 2023, the volume of planned and current repairs of freight cars at Lemtrans’ car repair site amounted to 5.2 thousand units.
In 2023, Lemtrans Group transferred about UAH 929 million to the budgets of all levels. In particular, UAH 840 million was transferred to the state budget. Local budgets were replenished by more than UAH 88 million, and the unified social tax amounted to approximately UAH 64 million.
Last year, the company allocated more than UAH 41 million to support the Armed Forces, the TRO, humanitarian aid to the population and other charitable projects.
Earlier it was reported that the Mostyska container terminal, which began operations in mid-2022, handled more than 72.4 thousand TEU of containerized cargo in 2023, the press service of the Lemtrans logistics company said. The total volume of cargo handled by the container terminal in 2023 amounted to 286 thousand tons. About half of it, 122 thousand tons, was grain cargo, 62 thousand tons – liquid bulk, 35 thousand tons – general cargo, and 37 thousand tons – beam cargo. In addition, in 2023, the terminal received electric vehicles – 36 containers with 108 cars were unloaded.
The transport and forwarding company Lemtrans transported 31.38 million tonnes of various types of freight in January-June 2020, which is 26% more than on the same period of 2019.
In the six months of 2020, iron ore raw materials and coal accounted for the bulk of loading, totaling 12.57 million tonnes (8.15 million tonnes in January-June 2019) and 11.45 million tonnes (10.44 million tonnes in January-June 2019), respectively, the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
Volumes of transportation of ferrous metals in the first half of 2020 amounted to 4.02 million tonnes (3.83 million tonnes in January-June 2019), shipments of fluxing materials totaled 1.44 million tonnes (1.12 million tonnes in January-June 2019), and those of coke 1.26 million tonnes (0.99 million tonnes in January-June 2019).
The company said that despite the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic it had signed new contracts on freight transportation in the second quarter of 2020.
A total of 3,516 freight cars underwent scheduled maintenance over the first six months of 2020.
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.
In January-June 2019, the transport and forwarding company Lemtrans transported 24.85 million tonnes of various types of freight, which is 3.94% down on the same period of 2018.
In the six months of 2019, coal and iron ore accounted for the bulk of loading, totalling 10.44 million tonnes (9.93 million tonnes in January-June 2018) and 8.15 million tonnes (8.68 million tonnes in January-June 2018), respectively, the company’s press service said.
Volumes of transportation of ferrous metals in the first half amounted to 3.83 million tonnes (3.62 million tonnes in January-June 2018), shipments of fluxing materials totaled 1.12 million tonnes (1.60 million tonnes in January-June 2018), and those of coke 0.99 million tonnes (1.54 million tonnes in January-June 2018).
The company notes that the observed decline is due primarily to an increase in the turn-around of railway cars and a fall in the average speed of trains (Lemtrans’s turn-around period in the first half of 2018 was 7.8 days, it grew to 8.9 days in the first six months of 2019, which is an increase by 1.1 days, or 14%).
“The surplus of the railway car fleet, associated with excessive purchases of cars by market participants in 2018-2019, which were related to problems with railway equipment, is coupled with the lack of locomotives. In general, the approach to solving problems should be comprehensive. And the first step is the adoption of a new law on railway transport,” the press service quoted Lemtrans CEO Volodymyr Mezentsev as saying.
The SCM Group owns 100% of Lemtrans’s charter capital.
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.
