The second direct container train from China arrived at the Kyiv-Liski train station early on July 6. It is the first container train to arrive in Kyiv from Wuhan.
According to the CFTS correspondent at the ceremonial welcoming of the train, the train delivered 43 forty-foot containers from China. The containers contained magnesium sulfate, all kinds of equipment, aluminum frames, disposable syringes, and light industry products.
The train traveled a distance of 9,500 kilometers. It covered the distance in in 20 days, having left Wuhan on June 16.
"The estimated time to overcome this distance is about 15 days. This is the indicator that will make overland transportation of Chinese goods to Ukraine competitive compared with other logistics solutions. We plan to operate trains from China weekly and subsequently increase their frequency," said Ivan Yurik, the board chairman of the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia).
“Previously, only transit goods were transported through Ukraine on trains from China to Western Europe and back. We are now considering a number of new container train routes,” he added.
Asked why a welcome ceremony was organized for the second direct container train from China, unlike the first train, Ukrzaliznytsia told the CFTS correspondent that the welcome ceremony was a Chinese initiative intended to symbolically demonstrate the victory over coronavirus in Wuhan.
As reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia’s Liski branch received the first direct container train from China on June 8. The train, which departed from Yantian, reached the border crossing between China and Mongolia (the Erlian and Zamyn-Uud train stations) in five days. It then traveled through the territory of Mongolia to the Suhe Bator – Naushki border crossing and then on transit through the territory of the Russian Federation to Ukraine’s Zernovo border crossing before arriving at the Liski train station in Kyiv.
It was also announced that another container train would depart from Nanchang for Kyiv on June 26.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, 36 container trains currently run regularly on the territory of Ukraine. Container trains transported 109,440 TEU through Ukraine in the first five months of 2020, which is almost double the number in 2019 and constitutes 59% of the total volume of containers transported through Ukraine.
In total, 185 545 TEU were transported by rail through Ukraine in the first five months of 2020 (a 1.8% increase compared with the corresponding period of 2019).
