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.
Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) and DAI Global LLC, a development company working with international development agencies, have signed a memorandum on the implementation of the international technical assistance project Economic Support for Ukraine, which provides for the development of Ukrainian grain exports by rail, the UZ press service said on Friday.
“Our common task is to increase grain exports by developing solutions that will help increase and demonstrate the efficiency and profitability of Ukraine’s rail export logistics,” said Yevhen Lyashchenko, Chairman of the Board of UZ.
According to the release, the memorandum refers to support in the repair and restoration of grain hoppers and the purchase of locomotives, as well as reducing grain transportation costs through improved cross-border cooperation, joint actions that reduce costs and increase the efficiency of weighing and scanning cargo, and improving transshipment equipment.
In addition, the memorandum provides for the provision of comprehensive services for the design and construction of priority border crossing points (BCPs) and other areas and projects that will increase the ability to export agricultural products.
Within the framework of the project, DAI Global will primarily work in the field of rail transport. In particular, the company will modernize the infrastructure of border crossing points, purchase shunting locomotives, equipment for weighing and monitoring cargo transportation with a focus on grain crops.
The company will also facilitate and support the attraction of additional funding, in particular from international financial institutions, for the implementation of infrastructure projects.
As reported, earlier in September, UZ agreed to work together to develop intermodal rail traffic between Ukraine and Austria with the Austrian railway company Rail Cargo Austria.
In January-August 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) renewed 854.3 km of tracks with various types of repairs, which is 22% more than in the same period in 2022, the company’s press service said on Monday.
According to the release, in January-August 2023, 217.4 km of track was overhauled with new materials, which is 55% more than in the same period last year, while 119.4 km of track was restored using suitable materials that were already available.
“The average repair was carried out on 517.5 km of track, which is 17% more than in the same period in 2022,” UZ said.
In addition, Ukrzaliznytsia overhauled 104 sets of turnouts with new materials and overhauled 67 sets with existing materials. A total of 440 sets of switches were overhauled.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed Ukrzaliznytsia to use EUR 100 million for urgent needs from the balance of the EUR 150 million loan from the European Investment Bank approved in 2016, which was originally planned to be used for the construction of a second track, electrification and modernization of signaling and communication systems on the Dolynska-Mykolaiv-Kolosivka route.
Passengers have bought 183,500 bags of Gemini tea worth over UAH 3.6 million on Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) trains, of which UAH 1 million will be used to purchase Ukrainian FPV drones Hrom, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said on his Telegram account.
“Everyone who travels by train can help the Defense Forces. To do this, you need to buy Gemini tea. Part of the funds from each bag will be used to buy drones for the military,” the minister emphasized.
UZ noted that such tea can be ordered in the app, chatbot, or on the website, as well as directly on the train (except for Intercity+). The cost of the drink is UAH 20, of which UAH 5.5 from each bag goes to raise funds that will be transferred through the UNITED24 platform for the purchase of Ukrainian-made FPV copters “Thunder”. The cost of one such drone is UAH 21 thousand.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) in January-August transported 10.5% less cargo than in the same period last year – 94.9 million tons, deputy director of the department of commercial work of “UZ” Valery Tkachev said at a meeting of the Export Office on Wednesday.
At the same time in August the volume of transportation amounted to 12.3 million tons, which is 13.8% more than in August last year.
Tkachev noted that the said reduction in the volume of cargo transportation for the first eight months of this year was mainly due to a decrease in the volume of their transportation in the export direction: in January-August it decreased by 14.8% compared to the same period last year, to 34.8 million tons.
“The situation with transportation in the export direction is not very good. Last month we transported only 3.3 million tons of cargo in export traffic. The reason is the closure of the “grain corridor” and the introduction of restrictions on the western border regarding the acceptance of grain. Therefore, unfortunately, our export transportation has decreased. The best indicator was in September (2022), when we transported 5.2 million tons in export traffic. But now, due to the decline in grain transportation, we have the current indicators,” Tkachev said during the meeting.
According to him, as a result of the decline in grain cargo exports, there have been changes in the structure of transportation – iron ore has taken the first place.
“The first place in transportation in export traffic is occupied by iron and manganese ore – 42% of the total volume. Grain takes the second position – 27%, in the third place ferrous metals – 11%”, – said the deputy director of the department of commercial work of “UZ”.
Thus, in January-August the volume of ore transportation amounted to 11.49 million tons, which is 38.3% less compared to the same period last year. The volume of ferrous metals transportation in export traffic decreased by 29.7%, to 3.03 million tons, oil increased by 21%, to 826 thousand tons, building materials fell by 47.5%, to 1.036 million tons, cement increased by 37.4%, to 791 thousand tons.
The volume of grain cargo exports in August amounted to 876 thousand tons, which is 8.8% more than in July. Of this volume, 358 thousand tons of corn, 225 thousand tons of wheat, 235 thousand tons of industrial seeds and 58 thousand tons of other seeds were transported. In the direction of sea ports 143 thousand tons were transported, through land border crossings 733 thousand tons, which is 8.8% more than in July.
For eight months, the volume of grain transportation amounted to 14.75 million tons, which is 27.6% more compared to the same period last year. “Since June 29, the work of the Grain Corridor has been completely blocked. Massive strikes carried out by the aggressor in July-August on the Odessa region resulted in damage to the infrastructure of international and Ukrainian traders in Odessa and Danube ports. “In addition, since May 2, the European Commission has banned the supply of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to five countries – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – until September 15, 2023,” UZ points out.
“It is pleasing that the volume of grain transportation in the direction of western land crossings began to grow. Already up to 500 railcars per day we transfer to the western BCPs. Let me remind you that in the best times we used to transfer 680 wagons per day and transported 1 million tons of grain across the western borders per month. After the restrictions, the volumes fell to 370-400 cars and 0.5 million tons of grain. Now the situation is normalizing,” – said Tkachev.
It is noted that the cargo flow through land crossings at the end of August amounted to 2.83 million tons, or 86% of the total export traffic by rail. Mostly cargoes went through Chop – 684 thousand tons, Uzhgorod – 396 thousand tons, Batievo – 241 thousand tons, Vadul-Siret – 206 thousand tons, Yagodin – 163 thousand tons. Seaports handled 476 thousand tons of cargo in August, or 14% of the total volume transported by UZ.
In “UZ” also specified that following the results of August seaports handled 476 thousand tons of cargoes, or 14% of the total volume of transportation by rail in the export direction. Of this volume, only Izmail ICC processed 433 thousand tons of cargo.
