Circumnavigating Africa: How Ukrainian Railway Wheels Are Now Being Delivered To Asia

Ukrainian industrial group Interpipe transports railway products destined for overseas markets by road and sea. In addition, because of attacks by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea, products are now being shipped to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope.

Oleksii Yanovskyi, Interpipe's director of procurement and logistics, stated this in a conversation with the CFTS portal.

Speaking about the first stage of transportation of its products - to the ports of Bulgaria and Romania, Yanovskyi noted that Interpipe's railway products are mainly delivered to the port of Constanta by road (in container trucks). This is because the customers' quality requirements for railway products are extremely high.

"This way, we do not risk unnecessary re-loading and let the wheels stay near seawater for unnecessarily long periods. In addition, the volumes transported in this way are relatively small for us, which allows us to deliver by road on time and at optimal rates," Yanovskyi said.

At the same time, the resumption of container ship calls at the ports of Greater Odesa allows the company to use this tool as well. In particular, the company ships railway products in containers on the Chornomorsk-Constanta route.

For the subsequent delivery stages, Interpipe uses the services of container lines such as Maersk and MSC or, for example, Akkon.

"Shipments are scheduled, mostly once a week. The route depends on the final destination. Most often, it goes through Port Said, and if the products are destined for the Middle East or the Far East, the route goes through the southern tip of Africa (avoiding the Houthis in the Red Sea) to Singapore. From there, smaller feeder vessels take the products to the destination ports," Yanovskyi said.

It should be noted that the United States is another important overseas market for the Ukrainian railway wheel manufacturer. Logistics in this direction have improved after the opening of the Ukrainian Black Sea corridor.

"We still export our products through ports in neighboring countries, but the situation with shipments directly from Ukrainian ports has objectively improved. Recently, we tested a new route from Chornomorsk to Houston (USA) by loading a bulk carrier with pipes and wheels. As of today, this route is operational," said Oleksandr Harkavyi, director of Interpipe's Railway Products Division, in a recent interview with the CFTS portal.