The transportation of grain by rail is continuing despite missile strikes and power outages.
This was stated during a meeting between the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) and representatives of the grain transport market, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Rail Insider publication.
As stated during the meeting, 570,000 tons of grain were loaded in the first seven days of December. The grains accounted for 28.3% of the total volume of freight loaded during that period. On average, 81,000 tons were loaded per day.
"Unfortunately, there was a slight drop in the loading volume in the first week of December because of an attack on the power system on 5 December. Enterprises and the railways had problems with electricity on 5 and 6 December. There is a limit on the amount of power provided to the railways and enterprises. Because of this, there are problems with loading and unloading," said Valerii Tkachev, the deputy director of Ukrzaliznytsia’s department of commercial operations.
However, he added that the situation is stabilizing gradually and that, for example, 100,000 tons of grain were loaded on 7 December.
The situation involving energy supplies in the port of Odesa is difficult.
"There are 444 wagons in Odesa port today, and 93 wagons are being unloaded. There are problems with energy supplies. A limit has been imposed, which several enterprises (terminals) take turns to use," said Ivan Yemets, the deputy director for logistics and ferry operations at the Odessa Railways, a division of Ukrzaliznytsia.
He added: "There are certain problems with the transportation of goods to ports at the Odesa hub. However, all the enterprises in the ports are being supplied with cargo with the help of locomotives. We have imposed no restrictions."
During the meeting, businesses once again called on Ukrzaliznytsia to consider the possibility of not charging fees for idling wagons if a lack of electricity causes it.
