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Ukraine's transhipment capacity is insufficient, and railroads are a priority solution to the problem. What does the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine have to say?

Ukraine's transhipment capacity is insufficient, and railroads are a priority solution to the problem. What does the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine have to say?
photo: Archive/Ukraine's transhipment capacity is insufficient, and railroads are a priority solution to the problem. What does the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine have to say?
23 / 05 / 2022

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov expressed his concern about Ukraine's hindered export processes and stressed that EU investment should be directed to help transport products as quickly as possible amid Ukraine's lack of transhipment capacity due to Russia's military invasion.

"As a result of the war, we have experienced catastrophic blows to the economy and supply chain. Rail connections have now come to the forefront. We need to increase capacity if we only rely on rail connections. But, this is unreal in such a short time," explained Kubrakov.

It is known that Ukrainian Black Sea ports used to carry from four to five million tons per month, but since the Russian invasion, the volume has dropped sharply to one million tons per month. He noted that "rail transport can partially undertake all the transportation of agricultural products, particularly grain. However, transporting goods is difficult due to western Ukraine's low border-crossing capacity, which is not designed for transhipping such volumes. Ukraine expects that in the next one or two years, the railroads will be able to compensate for prewar volumes by placing additional terminals at the junctions with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. However, it "requires constant construction in existing and new terminals and the operation of mobile transhipment points."

"Rerouting to Baltic ports will not help substantially. We need help exporting agri-food products, improving the capacity of transport networks and transhipment terminals, and increasing the cargo volumes on the borders with Poland and Romania; otherwise, we will not be able to tackle the agricultural crisis," said Ukrainian MP Larysa Bilozir.

Such expansions are useful not only in wartime but also in the long term. According to the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the increase of terminals' capacities in peacetime will contribute to the cargo transportation increase through the territory of Ukraine by 50 per cent in comparison with the pre-war indicators, which can play a significant role in the Eurasian routes.

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