The government plans to stimulate the creation of joint railway checkpoints with the EU

The government plans to stimulate the process of creating joint railway checkpoints of Ukraine on the border with the neighboring countries of the European Union in order to speed up the logistics of domestic exporters. This was announced by the First Vice Prime Minister – the Minister of Economy Julia Svyrydenko during a meeting with representatives of the steel industry and Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ), reports Ministry of Economy.

“The government continues to work with neighboring EU countries to create joint border railway checkpoints. The simultaneous customs procedures by the two parties should speed up the logistics of Ukrainian export goods to the European Union,” said Julia Svyrydenko.

In addition, negotiations are underway with Poland to increase the number of employees on phytosanitary control at the border. Although this applies only to agricultural products, such a step can speed up the entire cross-border rail logistics of Ukrainian goods.

According to the head of the Ukrzaliznytsia’s board Oleksandr Kamyshyn, by the end of November it is planned to open two additional railway crossings with Romania. In this way, the possibility of deliveries to the port of Constanta will increase.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in September 2022, the UZ reduced export transportation of iron and manganese ores by 28.6% compared to the previous month – to 1 million tons. In January-September, 19.8 million tons of iron ore were transported by rail (-40% y/y).

Export transportation of steel products by rail increased in September by 35.7% compared to the previous month, and in January-September 2022, it decreased by 60.5% – to 4.7 million tons.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian steelmakers have experienced difficulties in shipping finished products for export. The blockade of the ports forced to reorient the shipment of products exclusively to the railway. Because of this, the company’s logistics costs have increased several times and the delivery time has increased significantly. Border crossings could not cope with such an influx of railcars, due to which railcars with products stood in queues for weeks. After the opening of the grain corridor, the situation has improved, but remains tense.