Ukrposhta starts delivery of int'l parcels by rail to Ukraine jointly with Estonia's Omniva, Slovakia's Interport, Ukrainian Railways

MOSCOW. Dec 26 (Interfax) - Ukrposhta jointly with Estonia's National Post Omniva, Slovakia's Interport and Ukrainian Railways has made the first delivery of international parcels to Ukraine by rail for the first time since 2002, Ukrainian media reported on Tuesday, citing the postal operator's press service.

"Omniva and Ukrposhta jointly delivered three rail cars carrying almost 80,000 parcels of customers from the global marketplaces in the first test delivery by rail," the statement said.

Parcels cross the border in a 24-hour period when delivered by rail, it said.

"Ukrposhta accepted imported international mail by freight rail cars for the first time since 2002. Thanks to Ukrainian Railways and the Estonian Post, which is Ukrposhta's key transit partner when delivering parcels from the global marketplaces, in particular, from Chinese online stores, the service will be regular," it said.

The new transport solution will enable companies not to depend on the situation at the border and deliver any volume of customer parcels, Ukrposhta said.

"Given the blockade of most motor checkpoints on the border with Poland and Slovakia, as well as longer queues at those checkpoints that remain open, the delivery by rail allows Ukrposhta to cross the border despite force majeure situations," it said.

The new logistics scheme contributes to the prompt delivery of parcels during the peak of seasonal sales on international trading platforms, it said.

Ukraine does not lose hope to launch a Warsaw-Kiev mail train, Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smilyansky said earlier. This will cut the delivery time of parcels from Europe to one day. At the same time, the delivery time of parcels to the United States will be cut to three to four days from the current eight to ten days.

Ukrposhta used to send international shipments from Kiev's Borispol International Airport involving 15 airlines before the crisis. At the same time, direct flights were performed to New York, Toronto and Beijing. After the Ukrainian airports were closed, the operator switched to delivering international parcels to Europe, including to the European airports, by road.

Negotiations with the Polish railroad to launch regular mail train services have been ongoing since 2022. As an alternative Ukrposhta agrees to the option of trailing mail cars to passenger trains that run to Przemysl, where there is a specialized customs office for receiving postal items. It has not yet been possible to obtain the Polish side's consent to the implementation of this project.