Currently, Container Terminal Mostyska sends three regular TOFC trains (semi-trailers on railroad flatcars) to the EU, particularly to Germany, every week. The company also transships road semi-trailers in the opposite direction for Ukrainian customers.
Container Terminal Mostyska provided the CFTS portal with a video demonstrating the process of handling semi-trailers.
Reach stackers equipped with specialized long grips known as combi spreaders are used for this purpose. A combi spreader is used to grip and move a specialized semi-trailer or a specialized tray on which the semi-trailer is located. If the semi-trailer or tray is not equipped with mounts for a combi spreader, as shown in the video, it can be placed in a special metal tray. Instead of a combi spreader, slings on the reach stacker are attached to small metal slings positioned under each wheel pair of the trailer and used to grip and move it.
Container Terminal Mostyska explained in comments to the CFTS portal that Austrian-made R2L connectors are used during transportation on flatcars with the 1435 mm European track gauge. In the European Union, where piggyback (TOFC) transportation is a common practice, these metal connectors have been used for a long time. Depending on their size, they can hold 1-2 semi-trailers, tank trailers, 1-2 tractor trucks, etc.
At the terminal, semi-trailers can be transferred from European gauge flatcars to Ukrainian flatcars or from flatcars to tractor units, depending on the destination.
The terminal emphasized it is currently the only terminal in Ukraine from which piggyback (TOFC) trains are dispatched regularly. It handles about 120 semi-trailers carrying import goods and the same number carrying export goods per month. If necessary, the number of such trains can be increased.
