Ukrainian grain does not have priority in transportation to Constanta, says Romanian carrier

Trains from Ukraine are accepted after other cargoes, and due to the busy port terminals, they can be idle for several days.

Ukrainian grain cargoes do not have priority during rail transportation to the Romanian port of Constanta. This was stated by a representative of the Romanian carrier Unicom Tranzit at a meeting of Ukrzaliznytsia with carriers from Romania and Moldova, writes Elevatorist.

According to her, some terminals in Constanta first serve trains with Romanian cargoes, and only then accept Ukrainian ones. In particular, this situation is observed at the ADM and Chimpex terminals. Even with permission to accept, a train can wait from 2–3 to 5 days, and in some cases, the downtime reaches a week.

An additional problem is the limited number of narrow-gauge wagons. Unicom Tranzit noted that their fleet is mainly involved in transportation through the territory of Romania. Due to delays at the port, the full cycle of wagons on the Vadul-Siret – Constanta – Vadul-Siret route can take up to 10 days.

The company emphasized that Constanta is overloaded not only with grain, but also with other types of cargo, so delays occur even after receiving the port acceptance for the train.

As USM reported, in August, Romania took first place in terms of the volume of receipt of Ukrainian grain by rail – an average of 44.7 wagons are transferred through border crossings daily.