Ukrainian-Polish railway crossing checkpoints engaged at 50%, have reserves for cargo transfer

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Railway JSC has requested that shipping operators increase transportation via Polish border crossing checkpoints which are currently engaged at 50% of their capacities and have reserves for cargo transfer, Valery Tkachev, deputy director of the company's commercial department, said at a meeting with representatives of the agricultural industry on Thursday.

The Yagodin-Dorohusk border crossing processed a total of 2,908 rail cars transporting 139,777 tonnes of various cargoes in the 24 days of May, Ukrainian media outlets quoted Tkachev as saying in a statement.

On the average, this junction processes a little more than 121 cars a day in both directions, including 55.5 cars for export from Ukraine and 65.8 cars received by Ukraine.

Comparing May's figures with those of April, Tkachev noted an increase in traffic via this border crossing by 25 cars a day, as the daily handover of cars with export increased by 11 and the reception of import by 14.

In the past four months, February saw an all-time high of cargo transshipment via the Yagodin-Dorohusk border crossing, 164.4 cars a day, whereas it decreased to 127.9 cars a day in March, and traffic dropped down to 96 cars a day in April, he said.

According to Tkachev, seven transport operators work in this junction. The largest of them is PKP Cargo, which processed 1,899 cars carrying 89,573 tonnes of various cargoes in the 24 days of May. Import of oil products was ranked first among the transported goods with 603 rail cars, export of grains was ranked second with 304 cars, and container shipping third with 453 cars.

PKP Cargo processes 79.13 cars a day overall, which indicates the improvement of transfer and handling of cargo nearly by 4.66 cars. "This operator has finally started receiving transit cargos on the 1,520 mm gauge track, which enabled increasing reloading operations," Ukrainian Railways said.

CT Logistics processed 592 cars transporting 33,530 tonnes of various cargos. The largest number of cars, 413, carried oil cargo for import. The operator also works with construction materials, grains and containers and processes almost 15 cars a day, which is one car more than in the previous month.

The Lotos operator processed 54 cars carrying containers since the beginning of May, and Ecorail 22 cars carrying imported oil cargoes.

Ost West Logistics Poland processed 33 cars with grains and 84 cars with containers, LTG CARGO POLSKA 160 cars with containers and 34 cars with construction materials, and IRT 30 cars with construction materials.

"Overall, freight operations in the Yagodin-Dorohusk border crossing have improved in May in comparison with April, however, this pace remains insufficient in comparison with February and March 2023," Ukrainian Railways said.

Speaking about export of grains via this border checkpoint, Tkachev noted that 15.3 cars were transferred every day in May, which is 9 cars a day more than a month earlier. A total of 60 cars a day were sent via this junction every month in January-February, which indicates that it is possible to increase shipments of agricultural goods.

According to Ukrainian Railways, the Izov-Hrubieszow border crossing processed 7,201 rail cars carrying 310,976 tonnes of various cargoes in the 24 days of May. At that, 5,400 cars were carrying goods for export, while the Ukrainian side received 1,801 cars. On the average, 225 cars a day were headed from Ukraine laden with export, and 75 cars a day were received. This junction processes 300 cars a day in total, which is 3.5 cars less than the week before.

When compared to March and April, this figure shows a decline in the pace of operations by 40% in comparison with March, when this junction processed 556 cars a day. "A decline in cargo transportation was caused by a decrease of export of ores, it used to be the main cargo exported via the Izov-Hrubieszow border crossing," Ukrainian Railways said.

Ukrainian Railways does not consider the situation surrounding export of grains via this border crossing point good either, because 61 rail cars a day were sent in February, 58 cars a day in March, 28 cars a day in April, whereas this number is only 14.5 cars a day in May.

The Izov-Hrubieszow border crossing is focused on processing metal cargoes (1,512 cars in May), ores (604 cars), containers (1,293 cars), and coal (436 cars), Ukrainian Railways said.

The same situation is observed in the Rava-Russkaya border crossing, Ukrainian Railways said, adding that 125 cars were transported there in the 24 days of May, or a little over five cars a day, whereas it was 9.4 cars a day in April. "This junction is chronically underutilized. It has resources to expand," Ukrainian Railways said.

According to Tkachev, a total of 5,482 cars carrying 293,762 tonnes of varying cargo were amassed at the Mostiska 2-Medyka border crossing in the 24 days of May. In May, on the average, this junction processed 228.5 cars a day, of them, 151.5 cars were carrying export goods, while the Ukrainian side received 77 cars carrying goods for import.

In comparison with April, this border crossing showed an improvement in cargo operations by over than 20 cars a day, or by 9.7%. However, in February, the amount of processed cargo stood at 238 cars, which indicates that an increase of supplies is possible, Ukrainian Railways said, adding that the border crossing's is engaged by 60% of its capacities for increasing cargo operations.

According to Tkachev, the situation surrounding export of grain cargoes via the Polish junctions is gradually increasing, 50.5 cars pass through them every day. A weekly increase reached 9.8 cars, or 24% more than in April 2023.

A total of 293 cars are headed in the direction of Yagodin, of them, 147 are carrying grains, 61 metals, 16 oil cake, and 45 cement. There are grain cargoes at the border crossing needing re-registration of documents, and the Polish side expressed readiness to receive them. The junction is underutilized.

A total of 1,914 cars carrying mostly agricultural goods are headed towards the Izov-Hrubieszow border crossing, including 516 cars with grains, 683 oil cake, and 237 oil. A total of 255 cars are carrying metals, 24 chemical products, and 23 ores. The border crossing point is engaged at less than 50% of its capacity.

A total of 32 cars carrying clay and two carrying metals are headed towards Rava-Russkaya. The junction is underutilized.

A total of 1,562 cars are headed in the direction of Mostiska 2-Medyka border crossing, of them, 725 cars care carrying metals, 256 flat-deck cars are carrying containers, 225 coal, and 64 ores. Eight Polish shipping operators work in this junction, therefore they share the daily load between them, Ukrainian Railways said, calling on Ukrainian exporters to increase transportation via the Ukrainian-Polish railway crossing points.