Romanian company builds Europe's largest grain transshipment terminal near Ukrainian border

MOSCOW. April 9 (Interfax) - Grampet Group, Romania's private rail freight transport leader, has completed the construction and is beginning trials of Europe's biggest transshipment terminal for agricultural produce, investments in which amounted to 10 million euros, Ukrainian media reported with reference to Forbes Romania.

Located in Dornesti, the Suceava county, near the border with Ukraine, the new terminal will serve as a strategic point in streamlining the traffic of goods to the port of Constanta, it said.

Romania plays a major role in facilitating shipments of goods from Ukraine, the publication quoted Grampet Group President Gruia Stoica as saying.

Since the beginning of the crisis, Grampet's railway operators have made a substantial contribution to reopening key routes along the North-South axis, transporting more than 1.5 million tonnes of goods from Ukraine, he said.

The terminal allows for transshipping 240,000 tonnes of grain a month. Its annual design capacity is 3 million tonnes of grain. It is equipped with a 128-meter-long loading station and a 120-meter-long unloading station, which allow for loading and unloading simultaneously eight railcars. The equipment is similar to that used at sea and river port terminals, enabling the transportation of products without losing their quality at a maximum capacity of 500 tonnes per hour, it said.

As reported, Ukraine and Hungary on Monday agreed upon the opening of the Velika Palad-Nagyhodos car border crossing. The two countries also agreed to open the Luzhanka-Beregsurany crossing to empty trucks weighing over 7.5 tonnes.