Ukrzaliznytsia will repair ferries for operation on the Trans-Caspian route

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to repair the ferries “Heroes of Plevna” and “Heroes of Shipka” in the near future.

This became known during the VII International Conference “Ukrainian Railways: Development and Investments”, CTS writes.

“It is expected that the so-called “place of registration” of these ferries will be Chornomorsk, and they will most likely operate between it and the Georgian port of Poti,” said Viktoria Bashynska, deputy director of the branch “Center for Transport Service “Lisky” of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia.

According to her, UZ is still able to use ferries in transportation, but they are small, with a capacity of 48 cars. “Heroes of Plevna” and “Heroes of Shipka”, which are planned to be modernized, are much larger – up to 110 cars.

She also noted that the transformation of this direction continues and in this process new business areas are being identified. Thus, there is already an operator engaged in logistics, an operator of port stations (port railway logistics), a transport container service center, a terminal operator that provides terminal services (storage, transshipment) and a weighing operator that services weighing devices.

“A project is currently in the final stage, which involves the development of inter-terminal logistics and will combine transportation services between terminals and ports. The registration of a new legal entity UZ Cargo East in Kazakhstan is planned for the output,” said Victoria Bashynska.

This will allow it to work within the framework of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM). It is for this that UZ will need the ferries “Heroes of Plevna” and “Heroes of Shipka”.

UZ Cargo East is being created following the example of UZ Cargo Poland, which organizes regular container trains to the ports of Poland, the Baltic countries and other logistics centers in Europe. And already now, according to Victoria Bashynska, it can offer a service for transporting goods along the TMTM border – along the Middle Corridor – using a ferry connection with Georgia, transportation to Azerbaijan, transportation by water transport across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan and further to China.

“The situation with sea transportation will clear up this year. Now everyone is waiting for the end of the active phase of the war and the redirection of cargo flows to the ports of Greater Odessa,” the representative of UZ noted.

Earlier, USM reported that Ukraine would play a decisive role in the Trans-Caspian route if it launches ferries to Georgia.