JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) for the period from August 1 to 23, 2022 exported 1.16 million tons of grain cargo, which is 28% more than in July (917 thousand tons), including through land border crossings 549 thousand tons were transported on the western border (in July – 716 thousand tons), and 467 thousand tons were delivered to the ports (last month – 190 thousand tons).
For 23 days of August, Ukrzaliznytsia loaded 1.16 million tons of grain cargo into wagons, which is 17% of the total loaded volume of 6.9 million tons, such data were announced by Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work of UZ, during an online meeting with participants industry on Thursday.
“In March, we had 41.6 thousand tons in export traffic, in July – 917 thousand tons, and for 23 days of August we already have 1.16 million tons. Congratulations to everyone, I already see that we are gradually increasing the volumes transportation, but this is still not enough. Let me remind you that before the war we transported up to 4 million tons in export traffic per month,” Tkachev said during the meeting.
He explained that such an increase in exports to Ukraine was ensured by the Istanbul grain agreements, which unblocked the export of grain cargo from three seaports in the Odessa region in August.
“The share of grain both in terms of loading, and in the delivery of wagons, and in joints is growing. This indicates that farmers quickly adapt to the military situation and begin to load and transport more,” the deputy director commented on the increase in the share of grain cargo to 17% in August from 14% in July.
According to him, for August 1-23, the average daily loading of UZ wagons amounted to 50.2 thousand tons, while earlier this figure was 39-47 thousand tons.
According to Tkachev, since the beginning of August, Ukrzaliznytsia has exported 71,000 tons of sunflower oil, as well as 78,000 tons of cakes and meals of all kinds.
The Deputy Director specified that by August 23, the average daily handling of all types of wagons at border crossings had dipped slightly – to 1.84 thousand wagons from 1.86 thousand wagons in early August, however, the transfer of wagons for grain increased by 12% – to 444 wagons per day against 390 wagons at the beginning of the month.
The UZ representative clarified that the total queue at the crossings as of August 23 amounted to 27.1 thousand cars of all nomenclatures, while at the beginning of the month it was 14% more – 31.5 thousand cars. At the same time, by August 23, there were 8.7 thousand wagons with grain (-12% against the beginning of the month) and 506 wagons with vegetable oil (-41%) in the queue.
“In general, the transfer of wagons at the joints is increasing, the queues with grain are decreasing, while we still have a difficult situation at the Romanian border crossings (Vadul-Siret – Dyakovo), at the Polish border crossing Yagodyn-Dorohusk, where business has actively gone, and the difficult situation remains at Batevo – Epereshke,” Tkachev summed up during the meeting.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced the return to the development of a network of regional express trains in western Ukraine, the launch of the Bukovina Express No. 702 Lviv – Chernivtsi and the resumption of the Carpathian Express No. 807/808 Kolomyia – Lviv.
According to information on the UZ website, tickets for “Bukovina Express” are on sale from August 14, and for “Prikarpatsky Express” – from August 15.
“Bukovina Express” via Khodoriv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia and Snyatyn will depart from Lviv daily at 17:25 and arrive in Chernivtsi at 22:17. The train will leave Chernivtsi at 7:30 and arrive in Lviv at 11:54.
“Prikarpatsky Express” with a message via Ivano-Frankivsk, Kalush, Dolyna, Morshyn and Stry will depart from Kolomyia daily at 6:10 and arrive in Lviv at 10:40, and return at 17:20 and arrive in Kolomyia at 21:47 .
In addition, UZ announced plans to launch the Dniester Express in the near future, the first flight of which failed in February this year due to the start of a full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation.
DPKr diesel trains will be used on all routes.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” transported 10.302 million tons of cargo in July, which is 9.2% more than in June this year.
“Domestic transportation, exports and imports have grown. Only transit has not grown, because it is practically non-existent. The transportation of most of our key cargoes has increased: grain, ore, coal, ferrous metals, diesel, building materials, etc. Vehicle transportation has dipped , coke, scrap metal, salt and oil,” Alexander Kamyshin, head of the railway company, wrote on his Telegram channel on the evening of August 1.
According to the data he provided, in July 2022 UZ transported 542 thousand tons of oil and oil products (an increase of 12.2%), 2.033 million tons of ore raw materials (+3.2%), 1.462 million tons of grain (+7.2% ) and 6.266 million tons of other cargoes (+11.6%).
“Yes, the growth is slow. We are doing everything possible for the constant growth of freight traffic, primarily export cargo. I hope that the unblocking of seaports for grain will help us increase grain exports faster,” Kamyshin said.
In domestic traffic, UZ transported 6.2 million tons in July, which is 10.5% more than in June this year.
3.4 million tons of cargo were transported for export, which is 8.7% more than a month earlier.
UZ also transported 598.8 thousand tons of imported cargo in July, which is 4.5 more than in June 2022.
From August 15-16, JSC Ukrzaliznytsia speeds up two international trains and changes their departure time.
As noted in a message on the telegram channel UZ on the evening of July 28, from August 15, train No. 67 Kyiv-Warsaw will depart from Kyiv at 17:27 (instead of 18:23) and arrive in Warsaw at 10:04 (instead of 11:33) .
In addition, taking into account the growth in demand for this direction, Ukrzaliznytsia will add two more cars to the train from August 7 – ticket sales for them began on July 29.
Also from August 16, train No. 24 Helm-Kyiv will depart from Chelm at 16:46 (instead of 16:05) and arrive in Kyiv according to the preliminary schedule at 07:29.
Associations of Ukrainian manufacturers call on the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to impose a moratorium on raising tariffs for rail freight traffic for the period of martial law and six months after its termination.
“There was no real discussion between shippers and the carrier about a compromise solution to increase tariffs – we were simply presented with a fact. When Ukrzaliznytsia announced the discussion of raising tariffs by 70%, the order to increase tariffs had already been signed. We had specific proposals: to introduce a moratorium for the period of martial law and six months after it on the increase in tariffs within the borders of Ukraine, and all related services,” Liudmyla Kripka, the Executive Director of the Ukrcement Association, said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday.
According to her, Ukrzaliznytsia did not take into account the transportation of raw materials, coal, fillers in the infrastructure component of transportation, and did not include the tariff distance, which is why the cost of the final product will increase more significantly than in the carrier’s forecast.
“The impact on the cost of the final product will be much higher than presented by Ukrzaliznytsia. On the example of cement: for us, the main raw material is limestone, and there the highest figure is 55%. Other industries fell into the values of 0-13%,” she said.
In addition, from August 1, the calculation for the use of wagons will be changed to the actual one instead of the planned one, which will also increase the costs of shippers due to delays in border crossings, the expert noted.
Oleh Misiuk, a representative of the Ukrainian Lime Industry Association, pointed out that the decision to raise tariffs would have a significant impact on the lime market, which is already undergoing a significant decline in production volumes.
“Before the war, the cost of delivery from the west of Ukraine to Dnipro was UAH 400 per tonne, now it is UAH 650. With a producer price of up to UAH 300/tonne, the consumer overpays another UAH 200-250 from July 1. In general, lime production has fallen from the pre-war 1.2 million tonnes per month to 350,000 tonnes in May-June. The decision of Ukrzaliznytsia to increase tariffs will hit the market even harder, we expect a fall by another 30-40%,” he said.
MISIUK, MORATORIUM, RAIL FREIGHT, TARIFF, UKRAINIAN PRODUCERS ASSOCIATIONS, UKRCEMENT, UKRZALIZNYTSIA, КРИПКА
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia exported 804,900 tonnes of grain cargo in June 2022, which is approximately the same as last month (807,000 tonnes), Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work at Ukrzaliznytsia Valeriy Tkachev said on Facebook during online meetings with industry representatives on Thursday.
In particular, 639,900 tonnes of grain were transported through land border crossings on the western border, and 165,000 tonnes were delivered to ports.
Tkachev specified that in June 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia loaded 1.23 million tonnes of grain into wagons, which is 14% of the total loaded volume of 8.57 million tonnes.
At the same time, the volume of transportation of grain cargo amounted to 1.36 million tonnes in June, which is 10.5% more than the volume of loading for this period.
According to Tkachev, the volume of average daily loading into wagons in June amounted to 38,000 tonnes. This figure tends to decrease on weekends: if on weekdays 50,000-70,000 tonnes are loaded into Ukrzaliznytsia wagons, then on weekends – an average of 26,000 tonnes.
