The Ukrferry shipping company increased its volume of cargo transportation between Ukrainian and Georgian ports by 40% in the first six months of 2017. The company's ferries performed 63 trips on this ferry line during this period, Ukrferry told the CFTS portal.
According to the company, it transported 1,303 loaded railcars and 4,395 heavy trucks during this period. The company’s ferries accounted for 58% of the total number of railcars and 78% of the total number of trucks transported on this ferry line during this period (in addition to Ukrferry, a Bulgarian shipping company operates on this ferry line). Additionally, containers and passengers with their own vehicles are transported on the ferry line only by Ukrferry’s ferries. Ukrferry’s ferries accounted for more than 70% of the ferry line’s total freight turnover in the first half of 2017
According to Ukrferry, these cargo-turnover figures were achieved using less than 60% of the transport capacity of the company’s ferries and the cargo turnover can still increase significantly, including on the New Silk Road route. The speeds of processing ferries in Ukrainian and Georgian ports remain a problem. On average, the processing of a ferry takes 15 hours in Chornomorsk, 18 hours in Batumi, and more than 24 hours in Poti, which are significantly longer than the processing time of 6 hours in Baltic ports, where these ferries used to operate.
Ukrferry operates the Greifswald, Vilnius Siveis, and Kaunas Seaway ferries, which operate on the Chornomorsk-Batumi/Poti (Georgia) and Chornomorsk-Haydarpasa (Turkey) lines.
As the CFTS reported, the ferry service on the Chornomorsk-Haydarpasa line was launched in April this year.
