UDP seeks to increase transportation of iron and steel products

In the medium- and long-term perspective, the shipping industry aims to increase the transportation of heavy goods vehicles to 1.5 million tons per year

Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP) is seeking to increase the transportation of mining and metals cargo. Dmytro Moskalenko, CEO of Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company, told UGP in an interview.

According to him, in 2024, there are many factors that can affect the volume of transportation, including the situation on the grain market, the energy market and other markets, demand for steel products, and the climate factor. The head of UDP considers the level of profitability to be a more important indicator. Last year, more money was paid to the budget than in the entire history of the shipping company.

Dmytro Moskalenko noted that in the medium and long term, UDP aims to increase the transportation of iron ore raw materials to 1.5 million tons, agricultural products to 1.4 million tons, and fertilizers, building materials, and metal products to 300-400 thousand tons per year.

«Given the modernization of our self-propelled fleet, this is a very realistic goal,» he said.

According to him, this year the share of iron and steel products in the transportation of UDP will be at least 50%.

«Several large steel plants are located on the Danube, which annually buy millions of tons of iron ore raw materials. But there is a fight among carriers for this volume, so we have to give better conditions and win,» he said.

The UDP CEO noted that the sooner the shipping company has modernized tugs, the more successfully it will be able to compete.

«Although not everything depends on us, there are global factors that we talked about at the beginning. Today, the European economy, especially the construction sector, is not in the best condition due to high interest rates. And this affects the demand for steel products, i.e. production volumes,» explained Dmytro Moskalenko.

In January this year, UDP delivered five barges with iron ore to Serbia. The total deadweight of the caravan is 9 thousand tons. On the way back, the caravan will take grain and head to the Romanian port of Constanta. Fertilizers, building materials and other cargoes are delivered from Constanta to Ukraine.