Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has established its own intermodal company in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Intermodal Company (UIC), offers container transport by rail between the Port of Odessa and inland economic centres.
HHLA said in its announcement it is expanding its intermodal business and extending its product range for fast, reliable and efficient hub-to-hub transport services in seaport-hinterland traffic.
Ukrainian ports have developed in recent years, according to HHLA which noted that last year, the throughput volume at the Black Sea port of Odessa increased by 8.5% to almost 650,000TEU. However, at 22%, rail only accounts for a small share of the container traffic between the port and the Ukrainian hinterland, underlined by the German logistics company, while over 46% of sea containers in Hamburg reach or leave the port by rail.
With UIC, HHLA believes it has taken the first step towards a stronger modal shift from road to rail. Together with local partners, HHLA intends to remove obstacles to rail transport in Ukraine, and to establish and market a reliable range of services.
“Up until now, container transport by rail in Ukraine was almost exclusively carried out using individual cars or groups of wagons,” explained HHLA, who added, “The newly established UIC bundles the individual loading to container block trains, thereby increasing the efficiency and reliability of transports.”
Since early October 2020, UIC has offered weekly block train connections between Odessa and Ternopil in the Lviv economic region in Western Ukraine, while in November, a weekly service to the industrial centre of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, will start operations. In addition, it is also planned to establish a weekly container train connection between Odessa and Zaporizhia in the east of Ukraine.
In the Port of Odessa, HHLA operates the largest container handling facility in the country, the Container Terminal Odessa (CTO), which has its own rail terminal, currently being expanded and where container block trains are formed.
All inland activities are carried out in co-operation with private rail terminals, while additional services such as stuffing and stripping of containers, hub-to-door delivery to the final destination by truck or customs clearance are also available.
HHLA added that the future plan is to expand the offer of regular rail connections to other Ukrainian production and consumer centres and increase the frequency of services.
