Ukrzaliznytsia expands grain export routes

UZ is negotiating with neighboring countries to expand transit corridors for Ukrainian grain exports amid Russian attacks on Black Sea ports.

Bloomberg reports this with reference to the chairman of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Pertsovskyi.

According to him, part of the grain cargo is already being redirected to Danube ports, Romanian Constanta, as well as through Slovakia and Hungary.

“We are now diversifying export routes. We hope that the situation in the ports of Odessa will improve, but at the same time we continue to develop alternative directions,” Pertsovsky noted.

The Russian attacks disrupted the work of the ports of Great Odesa, through which about 90% of Ukrainian grain exports pass. At the same time, the railway and the Danube together can provide only about a third of the throughput capacity of the Black Sea ports.

Working with its partners, the railway can process a maximum of 1 million tons of grain per month. The option via the Danube is also limited by record low water levels in Europe’s second-longest river, which is hindering navigation.

Read also: Suspension of the ports of Great Odesa. What market participants expect and how they are adapting