Ukraine can send grain to Greek ports by rail
27.07.2023 - 09:55
Photo: Port of Thessaloniki (Greece), illustrative.
Greece and Bulgaria are currently discussing the possibility of increasing the transit of Ukrainian grain by rail.
At the beginning of the week, the Prime Ministers of Greece and Bulgaria Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nikolai Denkov discussed in Athens the problem of the transit of Ukrainian grain in view of Russia’s withdrawal from the Grain Agreement, Mediapool reports.
The Bulgarian Prime Minister told the press that the parties are discussing the possibility of transporting Ukrainian grain by trains through the territory of Bulgaria to Greek ports, but did not provide any details.
According to the publication, the proposal is for Bulgarian trains to load grain on Ukraine’s border with Romania, and then transport it through Romanian and Bulgarian territories to Greece.
It is not clear which of the Bulgarian carriers will be able to transport such cargo, given the shortage of locomotives and wagons at the state carrier.
It is also doubtful that private railway companies will be able to carry out such transportation with the existing rolling stock.
Greece has already started building railway lines that are of particular interest to Bulgaria – to Kulata and Svilengrad. Improving the condition of railways on these routes would allow more cargo from Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova to be transported to Greek ports.
