JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) in August 2022 exported a record 1.6 million tons of grain cargo since the beginning of Russian aggression, which is 1.74 times higher than in July (917 thousand tons), this growth was achieved thanks to the unblocking three Ukrainian seaports within the framework of the Istanbul grain agreements.
At the same time, 805,000 tons of grain were transported through land border crossings on the western border last month (in July – 716,000 tons), and 795,000 tons (190,000 tons) were delivered to ports, such data were announced by the Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work UZ Valery Tkachev during an online meeting with industry participants on Thursday.
According to him, in August, Ukrzaliznytsia loaded a total of 1.74 million tons of grain cargo into wagons, which is 18.7% of the total loaded volume of 9.28 million tons, and transported a total of 2.08 million tons of grain.
According to him, in August this year, the average daily loading of UZ wagons amounted to 56,000 tons. In early August, this figure varied between 24-40 thousand tons, but with the start of full-fledged operation of the grain corridor under the Istanbul agreements, loading increased to 50-80 thousand tons / day.
“We even have a record for the average daily loading of grain on August 31 – 91.53 thousand tons. I see that we will soon reach the threshold of an average daily loading of 100 thousand tons / day, and I hope that this will be already in September. In general, I see a very positive trend in the transportation of grain cargo,” the Deputy Director emphasized during the meeting.
In August, Ukrzaliznytsia also exported 107.9 thousand tons of sunflower oil, as well as 148.7 thousand tons of all kinds of meal, through land border crossings and ports.
The Deputy Director clarified that over the specified period, the average daily handling of wagons of all types at border crossings dipped slightly – to 1.848 thousand wagons from 1.86 thousand wagons in early August (by 15 wagons per day), however, the transfer of wagons for grain cargo increased by 18 % (+71 wagon/day) – up to 469 grain wagons per day against 398 units. in July.
The UZ representative clarified that by September 1, the total queue of wagons of all nomenclatures at the border had decreased by 21% (or 6.53 thousand wagons) compared to August 1, to 25.12 thousand units. from 31.5 thousand units. At the same time, by the indicated date, 8.48 thousand wagons with grain were in the queue (-15% or 1.5 thousand wagons by August 1), 433 wagons with vegetable oil (half as much) and 605 wagons with meal of all types (- 24%).
“This result was achieved because Ukrzaliznytsia took measures to improve the planning system. Let me remind you that this is the result of the fact that we began to coordinate loading plans according to the algorithm, guided by the delivery indicators for the previous month and taking into account the presence of queues. We are also working with carriers so that they do not inflate the plan, and we confirm only the volume that they are actually ready to take from them at the junction,” Tkachev summed up.
