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.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) in 2018 carried more than 8 million passengers, which is 15% more than in 2017.
According to the airline, the share of transfer passengers on UIA regular flights was 53%.
During this period, the carrier performed 61,500 flights, which is 9% more than in 2017, and the occupancy of passenger seats was 81%.
“The expansion of the network of long-haul routes and the fleet with wide-bodied aircraft made it possible to take another step forward in increasing transit traffic through Ukraine and the further growth of the hub at Boryspil International Airport,” Yevhenia Satska, the spokeswoman of UIA, said.
The volume of cargo and mail transportation reached 21,350 tonnes, which is 12% more than in 2017.
In 2018, the airline expanded the geography of international flights and began operating flights from Kyiv to Copenhagen, Cairo, Delhi, and Toronto. The map of domestic routes was complemented with the regular flight Kyiv-Vinnytsia.
The International locomotive building conglomerate Skoda Transportation has opened the first official representative office in Ukraine in Dnipro, according to the website of Dnipro City Council.
“The Dnipro residence will develop design projects for railway and public transport for the Czech company, as well as look for suppliers for production,” the report says.
Cooperation will also be facilitated by the presence in Dnipro of a network of manufacturers and repair enterprises of locomotive and heavy engineering.
“Our goal is for Skoda to return to Ukraine. Dnipro is a non-random choice. The city has a great potential,” Skoda Transportation Director for Human Resources Tesar Lumir said during the opening of the representative office.
Skoda Transportation produces railway locomotives, subway cars, suburban electric trains, as well as trams, trolleybuses, buses, engines, traction equipment. The conglomerate is also engaged in the modernization of rail and public transport. The brand cooperates with fourteen countries of the world, including Poland, China, and the United States.
Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air in January-October 2018 transported over 1.2 million passengers on flights from/to Ukraine, which is a 2.1-fold rise year-over-year. “During the first 10 months of 2018, the airline carried more than 1.2 million passengers on its low cost routes to/from Ukraine, which is 110% growth compared to last year and makes Wizz Air the largest low cost carrier in Ukraine,” the press service of the airline reported.
According to the press service, for 2019 Wizz Air announced four new routes: from Kyiv to Bremen, Billund and Riga, and also from Lviv to Copenhagen. The airline also confirmed its intention to deploy the fourth Airbus A320 at its base in Kyiv. As reported, Wizz Air offers flights on 41 routes to 12 countries from three Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv.
Belarus and Ukraine may increase mutual commodity turnover to $5 billion in 2018, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko said. “Positive dynamics of trade and economic relations between our countries was observed in the past few years. We have managed to stop the fall that was in 2013 and resume growth,” Lyashenko said at a plenary session of the first forum of Belarusian and Ukrainian regions in Gomel on Friday.
The amount of bilateral trade reached $4.6 billion in 2017 and went up 20% against 2016, he said.
“We project commodity turnover at $5 billion this year [an 8.7% increase from 2017],” Lyashenko said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have decided to bring mutual commodity turnover to at least $8 billion in 2019.
Not only the governments of the two countries, but also the regions need to contribute to achieving this goal, Lyashenko said.
BELARUS, COMMODITY, GENERAL ELECTRIC, INFRASTRUCTURE, PROJECTS, TRANSPORTATION, TURNOVER, US
Ukraine, Poland have agreed on the preliminary exchange of 160,000 licenses for transportation by road in 2019, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry has reported after a meeting of the Ukrainian-Polish mixed commission for international road haulage held on October 10 and October 11.
“The sides will hold a regular meeting of the mixed commission in the first half of 2019, where a decision will be made to establish the final quota,” the Infrastructure Ministry said on Friday.
In particular, there will be universal licenses for of the categories Euro-1, Euro-2 and Euro-5 – 10,000 each, Euro-3 – 50,000, Euro-4 – 20,000, and transit categories of Euro-3 – 25,000 and Euro-5 – 35,000.
According to the report, Ukraine also agreed to obtain from Poland an additional 10,000 licenses (8,000 transit and 2,000 universal) for this year, which will increase their number to 216,500.
The Infrastructure Ministry said that Poland again insists on reducing the 2019 quota to 130,000. However, this does not meet the needs of Ukrainian haulers. “Our position in relation to this proposal was unambiguous – we do not agree to any reduction of the quota!” Director of the Strategic Development Department of the road market and road transport of the Infrastructure Ministry Viktor Sasin said on Facebook.
The ministry said that the meeting on the quota increase for 2019 will be held after evaluating the effectiveness of the use of already issued licenses.
