The ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih mining and metallurgical plant is interested in transportation of cargoes from ports in the Odesa region to its businesses in Europe, the press service of the plant told the CFTS portal.
"Previously, we used the route between Odesa ports and Western Europe. However, supply of raw materials via this route has become complicated since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine. Currently, we do not know when the deliveries will resume. However, in general, ArcelorMittal is interested in transportation of cargo from Odesa ports," the plant said.
As the CFTS portal previously reported, against the background of the rapid fall in the volume of Russian transit goods through Ukraine, several experts have said that Ukraine needs to launch new alternative transit routes. One of them is the so-called new Silk Road and another is transportation of ore and coal through Ukrainian ports to metallurgical enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe.
The economic basis for this is very substantial. Firstly, the route from Black Sea ports to Ukraine’s western border crossings is 400-500 kilometers shorter than the route from the eastern border of the country to its western border crossings. As a result, transportation of goods by rail from ports to Ukraine’s western border crossings is cheaper by an average of USD 4-5 per ton than transportation on the route Topol-western Ukrainian border, and the Ukrzaliznytsia public railway company’s fleet of railcars will be fully loaded, CFTS Consulting said.
As reported, a similar logistical scheme has already been tried in practice: the ISD Corporation imported iron ore from Brazil for its companies in 2005 and a similar scheme was used to supply coal to ArcelorMittal’s Eastern European steel mills recently.
