The war on Ukraine has been felt on all fronts, especially the agricultural industry, and it has hindered the movement of grain out of the country.
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Alebor Group was one of Ukraine’s largest grain elevator operators. On the first day of the full-scale war, they had 7.5 million bushels of grain stuck in silos.
All of the elevators were routed to the Black Sea ports, which were blocked by Russia.
“What is it like to have 7.5 million bushels of grain stuck in your elevators? One word: horror. It’s not knowing what will happen next, it’s money, unsold commodities. We were seeking a solution to evacuate the grain.
Shipping grain to Europe by rail is one of the options but Ukraine inherited a Soviet railway with a track gauge that differs from the European one. In Europe, the gauge is narrower. And to export by rail, you have to transship grain from Ukrainian wagons to European ones at the border. The construction of a terminal on the border with Romania was the company’s solution to the export crisis.
A narrow gauge runs here, this is the route to the deep-water Romanian port of Constanta, and the site is located near the station, meaning that the wagon arm is short. So is the distance to the border — around 5 miles. Today, it is about three hours from the moment the wagons are loaded to the border crossing. Alebor Group Commercial Director Mykola Makhnevych says that speed is another advantage of the terminal.
“We don’t line up trucks along the roads. They arrive, unload and leave. The same for trains: arrive, load, leave. We can’t have a driver arrive and wait for the Romanian train to come.”
The high pace of work and effective communication with Romanians helped the company to transship 45 route trains in one of the winter months.
The neighbours brought empty wagons, we loaded them at the terminal, then another one arrived, and so on in a circle. A year earlier, the Romanians were not ready to work this way. We got them used to it. Now it is handy for everyone. What are the prospects for border transshipment as it faces competition from sea routes?
The company believes that this is a promising business irrespective of the ports. Ukraine is moving towards the EU, which means that economic ties with Europe will only grow stronger. Meanwhile, Ukrzaliznytsia is developing projects to bring narrow-gauge railways to Ukraine, primarily to Lviv and Chernivtsi.
In the future, there should be infrastructure for liquid bulk cargo, containers, etc. available around the narrow-gauge railway. And this would be a fine prospect for the terminal.
That report was powered by Latifundist Media, with USAID support provided through Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) Activity implemented in Ukraine by Chemonics International. For more information, visit their website or follow them on social media.
