After completing the first test delivery of 50,000 tons of coal to Poland, the DTEK Energy holding company is considering the possibility of regular exports of energy to the country despite the war-related logistical problems.
The DTEK company’s Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Rail Insider publication.
"We have made the first test shipments of coal to Poland. It is a small quantity: 50,000 tons. Unfortunately, there are very significant difficulties in terms of logistics because the railway infrastructures in Ukraine and Poland are not designed for the transportation of such volumes of goods. The same applies to the Polish ports of Gdansk and Gdynia. Therefore, test deliveries have been made but there are no volumes as large as the ones that can be delivered by sea through the port of Pivdennyi, for example," he said.
That notwithstanding, the company is considering possibilities for delivering coal to Poland and continuing to develop ways of doing it.
"Coal from other sources is critical for Poland to replace the volumes of deliveries from Russia that have been banned. It would be very good if Ukraine could lend a shoulder to Poland, which has been very helpful, to help the Poles survive the ban on Russian coal," he said.
He estimates that DTEK Energy could ship approximately 100,000-150,000 tons of coal (the volume that remains after the company meets the needs of its thermal power plants and other consumers) to Poland per month when there is a seasonal coal surplus.
"This will not ensure full diversification of supplies, but it will be our contribution to the assistance that our Polish friends will receive. It is suitable in terms of quality. We just need to learn how to deliver it to Poland quickly and smoothly," he said.
In addition, according to him, coal deliveries from Ukraine by rail are a faster and more economical alternative for Poland than deliveries by sea.
