UCAB urged to resume restrictions on export loading plans

The Ukrainian Agrarian Business Club (UCAB) appealed to the Chairman of the Board of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” Oleksandr Kamyshin about the need to restore the existing mechanism of restriction in coordinating plans for loading export cargo by rail in the direction of the western crossings, based on data on the accumulated queues and the actual volume of transportation through the crossings for the previous period. It is reported by Railway Supply magazine with reference to Rail.insider.

The decision of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” to temporarily suspend restrictions on the coordination of plans for the loading of export cargo by rail was announced on November 11.

“The absence of restrictions on the loading of goods into wagons in the direction of the western crossings will entail a significant increase in queues, reduce the speed and efficiency of transportation, cause a repeated artificial shortage of empty wagons and lead to an increase in the cost of using wagons. In fact, there may be a repetition of the difficult situation of May-June 2022 on the railway network with excessive accumulation of queues and the corresponding negative consequences. This approach will again increase the cost of transportation and significantly reduce the income that agricultural producers will receive,” the UCAB notes.

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The organization reminds that from March to June 2022, more than 42 thousand freight cars were accumulated in queues in the direction of the western crossings. However, since July after the implementation of limiting the plans for the load per month in accordance with the actual capacity, the queue has been significantly reduced.

As of November 9, the presence of loaded wagons in the direction of the western passages amounted to 18.2 thousand wagons, which is an estimated approximate average turn of 11 days in relation to the actual average daily delivery.

“UCAB calls on the Ukrzaliznytsia to urgently resume the mechanism for coordinating and limiting plans for loading export cargo by rail,” the organization said.

Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work of UZ, responded to this call.

“Why such a respected organization (UCAB) and such specialists do not write anything about the systematic non-fulfillment by grain shippers of the agreed plans/orders for the shipment of grain in the direction of the western borders. For October 2022, the percentage of fulfillment of plans is only 51%. Why should UZ limit and cut plans/orders agreed upon by foreign carriers, when our shippers fulfill these plans only by half?” he wrote. “At the same time, I agree with the author’s conclusions that UZ, as a carrier, needs to monitor the presence of a queue of wagons and, when a critical level is reached, it is necessary to return to strict planning limits.”

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