JSC Ukrzaliznytsia notes a number of problems on the part of the transport system of European countries, which prevent increasing the volume of cargo transportation by rail from Ukraine to Europe.
“The set of technical problems is that the transport system of European countries is not technically ready to transport such large volumes. It needs additional rolling stock: wagons and locomotives,” Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work at Ukrzaliznytsia Valeriy Tkachev said at the “Economics of War: May Review and Focus on Infrastructure” conference.
According to him, today Ukrzaliznytsia transports cargo using only 2,000 wagons, or about 130,000 tonnes of cargo per day at the western border crossings, which is approximately equal to 3.8 million tonnes of cargo per month. At the same time, Ukrzaliznytsia’s own capacities allow using 3,422 railcars, or 220,000 tonnes per day.
According to the Ukrainian railway operator, the root of the problem is that the railway infrastructure of Ukraine and Europe is significantly different in gauge. And for the exchange of goods between these two infrastructures, there are only two ways: to reload at the border or to change the wagon bogie. At the same time, Ukrzaliznytsia said that there are not enough transshipment terminals.
“Besides, the most acute problem is the number of wagons on 1,435 mm European gauge track. That is, we, for our part, can transport a much larger volume of cargo, but there is a problem either with a lack of transshipment capacity, or a problem of the availability of European wagons,” Tkachev said.
He also said that there is another technical problem, which is that the infrastructure of European countries has a limited capacity, since it was built for the needs of intra-European transport.
“In Europe, the share of railway transportation of the overall structure of the transport system is 15-35%, while we have 65%. Therefore, the European infrastructure was not initially designed for such large volumes of cargo transportation by rail,” he said.
According to Tkachev, the growth rate of railway transportation is also affected by organizational issues of business, which for many years has been building supply chains towards ports and which now needs to reorient towards border railway crossings.
“Now we have already accumulated 34,000 wagons in the network, which are loaded and are waiting to cross the border,” Tkachev said.
In addition, the presence of a number of red tape procedures at the border, in particular, repetitive procedures of phytosanitary and veterinary control, significantly slows down cargo transportation.
At the same time, the growth in railway transportation continues to recover: according to Tkachev, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 416,000 tonnes of agricultural products in March, and 638,000 tonnes in April. The goal of Ukrzaliznytsia is to reach 1-1.5 million tonnes per month of export of grain products.
The flow to enter Ukraine through its western border for eight days in a row after May 9 exceeds the flow to exit, the total net inflow to Ukraine over these days amounted to 61 thousand people – these are record figures since the beginning of the war.
According to the State Border Service on Facebook, on May 17, more than 31,000 people left Ukraine, as the day before, while the number of arrivals in the country was 37,000 against more than 41,000 the day before.
The agency clarified that over the past day the number of registered vehicles with humanitarian cargo increased to 239 after falling to 150-190 in the previous two days.
According to the Polish Border Service on Twitter, on May 17, 26 thousand entered Ukraine from the country, while the day before – 26.8 thousand. In the opposite direction, the flow amounted to 20 thousand compared to 19.2 thousand the day before.
In total, as indicated by the Polish border agency, since the beginning of the war, 3.442 million people have arrived from Ukraine to Poland, and 1.358 million people from Poland to Ukraine.
According to the UNHCR, as of 13:00 on May 16, a total of 6.267 million people left Ukraine since the beginning of the war (excluding the entry flow), of which 3.377 million went to Poland, 977.91 thousand to Romania and Moldova, and 850 to Russia. .53 thousand, Hungary – 610.08 thousand, Slovakia – 424.03 thousand, Belarus (data for May 12) – 27.31 thousand.
At the same time, according to the State Border Service, 1.821 million people have entered Ukraine by this date since February 28.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced his address and communication with students from leading universities in the US and Canada, as well as higher educational institutions in Ukraine.
According to him, the maximum attention of the world to Ukraine should be maintained, and information about the needs of the Ukrainian state should be present in the news of all countries.
“For greater informational and political support for Ukraine, on Monday I will communicate with students from leading American universities. These are 63 US universities and 2 Canadian universities that bring together hundreds of thousands of students and are a large expert and research community. Their voice will definitely strengthen our capabilities,” Zelensky said in a video message.
At the end of May, the head of state is scheduled to address the students of Stanford University.
Zelensky also announced his plans to communicate with Ukrainian students.
“I am also getting ready to communicate with Ukrainian students from leading universities. In my address to them, I will answer important and complex questions that already exist in our society and are already visible. I expect deep questions from them,” the president said.
The head of state also said that he would continue his appeals to the parliaments of European states. “Our task is the status of a candidate for the EU, and over time, accession to the EU under an accelerated procedure,” he said.
“It is equally important to have the maximum consent of the European countries to strengthen sanctions against Russia. It is for this that I will apply to the Luxembourg parliament in the near future,” he added.
In addition, according to Zelensky, work is underway to expand the geography of speeches before the parliaments of Africa and Asia.
On May 23, the head of state is scheduled to address the forum participants in Davos. “The pre-war reconstruction will be discussed. We are doing our best to collect the support of the world to the maximum,” he summed up.
Arms for Ukraine today are the key to world food security, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak said.
“One should understand the cause-and-effect relationships of global processes. Russia threatened the food security of the world by unleashing war in Ukraine. The only way to restore order is to help Ukraine win. Weapons for Ukraine today are the key to the food security of the world,” he wrote in Twitter.
At the opening of the G7 Agriculture Ministerial Conference in Stuttgart on May 13, Minister of Agrarian Policy Ministry of Ukraine Mykola Solsky proposed to discuss the creation of an influential organization of the main countries-supplies of grain in the world, responding to modern challenges and threats to food security, including from the Russian Federation.
As stated in the message of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy on Saturday, among the tasks of this organization, Ukraine sees, in particular, the establishment of maximum volumes of exports of grain crops to stabilize prices and predictability of the market, the development of a mechanism for directing excessive balances of agricultural products to the needs of the “green” sector of the economy.
In addition, this organization could apply joint restrictive measures against unfriendly actions of food importers, especially in the case of restrictive measures by third countries on the import of processed products.
Another principle introduced by the organization should be, in the opinion of Ukraine, the storage of grain residues contracted by third countries, to a large extent in producing countries.
Solsky also called on his colleagues to contribute as much as possible to lifting the blockade on the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.
“Due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports, seven million tonnes of wheat, 14 million tonnes of corn, three million tonnes of sunflower oil and three million tonnes of sunflower cake, as well as other crops, did not enter the world market. This has already led to a record increase in prices on the world market and will inevitably lead to a global food crisis and rising inflation,” the minister said.
Ukraine and Moldova will renew the Free Trade Agreement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“Despite the war we are implementing agreements of 2021. The draft law on the application of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin was submitted to Parliament,” Shmyhal said in Twitter on Friday.
In turn, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said the draft law approved on Friday “On the ratification of the Protocol between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova on Free Trade Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Moldova dated November 13 2003” will allow in bilateral trade between Ukraine and Moldova, when determining the origin of goods, to be guided by the provisions of the Regional Convention on pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin or alternative rules of origin of the said Regional Convention.
