The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) considers transport and logistics as one of the most competitive sectors of the Ukrainian economy, along with the hotel, tourism, and agricultural sectors. This is stated in the "Partnership for Ukraine to Successfully Compete in the Global Economy" report for 2013-2014 that the ACC recently published, a copy of which the CFTS portal obtained.
The report notes that Ukraine is a transit country, and one with great potential due to its geographically advantageous location.
"According to analysts’ estimates, the Ukrainian logistics market volume could reach EUR 300 billion. In real life, however, it amounts to only EUR 300 million," the report states.
Analysts state in the report that the main obstacles to developing the logistics infrastructure in Ukraine include the high interest rates on loans, the international requirements for railway vehicles, the poor quality of the country’s highway transportation facilities, and the low density of traffic circuits.
The report also states that the main technical barriers impeding the development of transportation logistics services in Ukraine include lack of information, programming, and computing suite integration; a low commodity flow speed (low regular speed and delays of up to 40% of journey time), which is sometimes due to delays with customs (according to report, no other reasons for this are currently observed).
At the same time, according to the report, the main drivers of the development of transportation logistics services in the country include cost optimization and reductions in the sizes of logistics chain; development of contractual and project logistics, i.e. formation of logistics strategy and tactics for corporate customers; the concentration of customer companies on their key competences and outsourcing non-profile lines of activity;
“The Ukrainian market today is fragmentary and characterized by niches. There is much room for improvement. The activity of foreign companies that provide comprehensive logistics services to Ukrainian businesses represents the main factor affecting market formation,” the report concluded.
