The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) transported a record 2.25 million tons of export grain cargoes in the period from 1 to 21 September 2022, which is 40.5% more than the 1.6 million tons it transported in the entire month of August and a record for the period since the beginning of the Russian military aggression.
Valerii Tkachev, the deputy director of Ukrzaliznytsia’s department of commercial operations, announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"We set another record—2.25 million tons—for the transportation of export goods and this was only in the first 21 days in September. I think we will be able to reach the figure of 2.5 million tons and maybe try to transport up to 3 million tons by the end of the month," Tkachev said during an online meeting with industry participants on Thursday.
He added that the company achieved this increase thanks to an increase in the volume of transportation of agricultural products to the three Ukrainian seaports that were unblocked under the Istanbul grain agreements.
According to him, 1,516,000 tons of agricultural products were delivered to these seaports for shipment to third countries (compared with 795,000 tons in the entire August) and 732,000 tons of grain were transported through the overland border crossings on Ukraine’s western border (805,000 tons or 9% less in August).
Ukrzaliznytsia has loaded 1.89 million tons of grain cargoes into wagons since the beginning of September (1.74 million tons in the entire August), which is 27.5% of the total volume of 6.32 million tons it loaded in September (export shipments totaled 9.28 million in August).
Tkachev also said that the average volume of cargo loaded into the company's wagons was about 90,000 tons per day during the period of 1-21 September (compared with 56,000 tons in August). This was a record for the period since the beginning of the Russian aggression. According to him, 122,000 tons of agricultural products were loaded into wagons on 20 September (a six-month record), 101,400 tons on 21 September, 112,800 tons on 19 September, and 83,200 tons on 18 September.
"Now, the loading volume in the network has also increased significantly. We have been loading over 100,000 tons per day in recent days. That is, the loading volume in the network is increasing, and this is all thanks to the opening of our grain corridor," he said.
Ukrzaliznytsia also exported 89,700 tons of sunflower oil and 132,700 tons of meal of all kinds through overland and border crossings and seaports on 21 September.
Tkachev said that the average number of wagons of all types processed at border crossings increased by 6% to 1,731 wagons per day during this period, compared with 1,848 wagons per day on average in August, while the number of grain wagons transferred per day was 536, which is 14% more than the average of 469 grain wagons per day in August.
According to him, the movement of wagons is most frequent at the Izov border crossing (157 wagons per day), the Batevo border crossing (80), the Yahodyn border crossing (48), and the Vadul-Siret border crossing (47).
As reported previously, the volume of transportation of export ferrous metals by Ukrzaliznytsia reduced by 11% to 275,000 tons in August 2022, compared with the preceding month. Compared with August 2021, the volume of transportation of metal products reduced by 81%.
