Ukrainian Railways restores container freight traffic to pre-crisis levels

MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Railways has restored the container freight shipping to the pre-crisis levels, having increased it 47% in January-September to 197,897 TEU, deputy director of the company's transportation technology and commercial operations department Valery Tkachev said.

"We are regaining the pre-crisis volumes. The freight shipping grew 47% to 197,897 TEU in the first nine months of 2024 year-on-year," Ukrainian media quoted him as saying on social media.

This figure is the highest in the last seven years and exceeds the figure of shipping volumes recorded in the same period of the peak year 2021 by 7%, Tkachev said.

The number of loaded containers shipped in 2021 reached 279,792 TEU, but the figure dropped 46% in 2022 and rose 34% in 2023, he said.

Exports accounted for nearly 62% of all container shipping, Tkachev said.

Grains are the top products shipped in containers by rail accounting for around 44% of the total shipping, he also said. Meanwhile, ferrous metals accounted for 17% in the total freight shipping, oil cakes for 7%, vegetable oils for 6.6%, synthetic resins for 3.5%, and products of the starch industry for 3.5%, as well.

As previously reported, the number of containers shipped by rail across Ukraine stood at 160,268 TEU in the first seven months of 2024, which is up 58% year-on-year.