The UDS announced a collapse in transportation on the Danube
15.11.2024 - 15:59
Danube transportation is decreasing. The Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company predicts a decline by the end of the year.
The head of the UDS, Dmytro Moskalenko, stated in an interview with LIGA about a sharp decrease in cargo transportation volumes across the Danube after the opening of the Ukrainian maritime corridor.
“When the maritime corridor through the ports of Odesa opened, there was a rollback. Or rather, the collapse of the transportation market from Ukraine along the Danube to Constanta. In fact, the situation in the region returned to the pre-war state,” Moskalenko said.
In addition, the reduction in transportation was influenced by a decrease in demand for Ukrainian iron ore raw materials among metallurgical enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as high competition from European carriers.
In 2022–2023, during the blockade of Ukrainian seaports by Russia, enterprises in the Danube region reached record figures. The UDS fleet then transported 1.8 million tons of cargo per year, compared to 1.37 million tons in 2021. The company’s net profit in 2023 amounted to UAH 719 million.
However, in the summer of 2024, due to the transportation crisis on the Danube, the company began to reduce staff, which reflects new challenges for the largest state-owned shipping company in Ukraine.
USM previously reported that the lack of solutions to the idle fleet threatens to paralyze the work of the UDS.
