The Mining and Metallurgical Combine PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has signed a contract with OTP Leasing financial support for purchase of four locomotives of CZ Loko based in Czech Republic. According to a press release from ArcelorMittal, the enterprise will receive diesel locomotives of an EffiShunter 1600 worth EUR 9 million in 2020.
OTP Leasing Director Andriy Pavlushyn said that the company had thoroughly prepared the given project with ArcelorMittal team and Czeck colleagues from CZ Loko.
“We are glad that the bargain was successful. For us this is a first step towards this direction: in financing operations with the locomotives, which together with our mobile and farm machineries, trucks and vans will enrich a portfolio of the main products of the company,” a press service quotes Pavlushyn as saying.
For his part, ArcelorMittal Transport Department Director Oleksiy Rybalkin said that the combine would be the first enterprise in Ukraine that will use Czech locomotives of the new generation.
Diesel locomotive EffiShunter 1600 is intended for shunting and line service. The locomotive is equipped with alternating/direct current power transmission (AC/DC) from the diesel engine to six powered wheelsets. Parameters of the vehicle are optimized for station shunting and for heavy operation on industrial sidings, e.g. in metallurgical, mining and petrochemical sectors, and for the line service.
CZ Loko is one of the largest Czech manufacturers of diesel-electric locomotives and special railway vehicles.
Ukrzaliznytsia, in addition to France’s Alstom and China’s CRRC, is negotiating the supply of electric locomotives with Canada’s Bombardier, Anton Sabolevsky, the director for strategic development and investment policy of the company, has said in an interview with the Magistral industry portal. “Now Ukrzaliznytsia is actively negotiating with potential partners. The main contenders are Alstom, CRRC, and Bombardier. The main advantage of these manufacturers is that they have ready-made models of locomotives for the 1,520 mm gauge, the rest require quite a long time for such models to be developed,” he said.
According to the expert, ultimately, the main selection criterion will be the total cost of an electric locomotive, taking into account its operation life, which includes the initial price of the locomotive, the cost of its maintenance, and the conditions of financing the project, as well as the volume of production localization in Ukraine.
He also said that Ukrzaliznytsia could purchase shunting locomotives from the Japanese company Toshiba.
The regional branch Prydniprovska Railways of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has selected Transportation Ukraine LLC to procure spare parts to U.S. General Electric locomotives for the total amount of UAH 3.12 million.
According to a report in the ProZorro e-procurement system, the deal was signed using negotiations due to the absence of competition among suppliers.
The subject of the deal is eight types of spare parts to General Electric TE33AS locomotives in the amount of 864 units. The term of the delivery is before December 31, 2019.
Transportation Ukraine LLC with a charter capital of UAH 28.1 million was registered in July 2018 in Kyiv. The founder is Transportation Systems Holdings Inc. (the United States). Gokhan Bayhan, GE Transportation’s General Manager for Russia/CIS, Europe, Middle East & North Africa, is the head of the company.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia has completed the first stage of the strategic cooperation with General Electric on supplies of locomotives.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has received the last five locomotive made by General Electric Transportation (the United States), Ukrzaliznytsia Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov has said on its Facebook page.
Ukrzaliznytsia received all 30 contracted locomotives GE. The last five met in Chornomorsk on Friday [February 1],” he said.
The received locomotives will be sent to Kriukov Car Building Works (KCBW, Poltava region) for retrofitting, where 10 more U.S. locomotives are already in work.
According to Kravtsov, GE locomotives show themselves to be extremely effective.
“As an example, we save fuel by 30% in the Zaporizhia-Kamysh-Zoria-Volnovakha section. In addition, the locomotives of the old fleet run an average of 360 km per day, and GE diesel locomotives – 540 km,” he said.
According to the head of Ukrzaliznytsia, 15 new locomotives now ensure a quarter of diesel locomotive traction in the three regional branches where they operate: Prydniprovska, Donetsk and Odesa.
Ukrainian grain farmers cannot timely execute contracts for exports of products due to a shortage of locomotives at Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club has reported. “The main problem of PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia, which impedes the efficient transportation of grain, is a shortage of locomotives. Due to a lack of traction, wagons stand idle at stations and elevators, while the turnover of cars of Ukrzaliznytsia’s Transport Logistics Center has increased from five to 11 days over the last two years, private to 13 days,” the report says.
According to the association, delays in the transportation of grain crops lead to a breach of export contracts, while transportation rates are declining, and gross production is rising. According to the union, only 500 out of 2,500 Ukrzaliznytsia locomotives work, while the overhauls of many of them were carried out in the 1990s.
At the same time, the association noted an increase in the number of grain wagons in the country: about 11,500 cars are owned by Ukrzaliznytsia, about 10,000 are private.
According to the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, it’s not worth expecting a speedy improvement in the situation with rail transportation because of a lack of funds at Ukrzaliznytsia for the purchase of locomotives in the near future.
CONTRACTS, EXPORTS, GRAIN FARMERS, LOCOMOTIVES, UKRZALIZNYTSIA
Seven locomotives General Electric (GE) TE33AC Trident (Tryzub) arrived in Chornomorsk (Odesa region), and the arrival of the next batch is expected in two weeks, acting Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov has said. “Another seven GE diesel locomotives arrived in Chornomorsk at night. They left the United States about a month ago and in a few days they will be sent for installation of the remained equipment in Ukraine,” Kravtsov wrote on Tuesday on his Facebook page and posted a short video from the port.
According to Kravtsov, in November, eight GE Evolution locomotives will operate in the railway: “We plan to use them for transportation on southern routes.”
He expressed hope that Ukraine will be able to receive the first 30 diesel locomotives before the end of this year.
“We are waiting for the next batch in two weeks,” he added.
As reported, in the beginning of August General Electric Transportation sent the first of 30 locomotives GE TE33AC to Ukraine. On September 11, it arrived in Ukraine.
The framework agreement between Ukrzaliznytsia and GE envisages a 15-year partnership in updating and modernizing traction rolling stock, the first stage of which is the delivery of 30 new diesel locomotives GE TE33AC to Ukrzaliznytsia under leasing terms with a localization level of 10%.
GE Transportation and Kriukov Car Building Works early June signed an agreement on the localization of production of 30 locomotives TE33A of the Evolution series. It was planned that Ukrzaliznytsia will receive the first locomotives late 2018.
