Rail freight traffic between Ukraine and Poland increases by almost a quarter
Trade turnover between Ukraine and Poland is continuing to grow. In the first half of the current year, the volumes of rail traffic between the two countries have been increased by 22 per cent. Meanwhile, bulk still dominates as usual while the share of containers remains low.
The total volume of rail freight between Ukraine and Poland increased by 22 per cent in six months of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, it amounted to 5.56 million tonnes. According to Ukrainian Railway (UZ), almost 73 per cent of these shipments were sent to export to Poland. During this period, this type of traffic increased up to more than 4 million tonnes or by 13.6 per cent. The vast majority of export running by rail from Ukraine to Poland is the iron and manganese ore. Mineral fertilisers and construction materials, ferrous metals and non-ferrous ore are also moved westwards.
The volume of import traffic, namely from Poland to Ukraine, increased in the first half of 2021 by 98 per cent, up to 740,600 tonnes. Most of the transit volumes, or 734,000 tonnes, were shipped by rail in the westbound direction having set growth of 21.7 per cent. The eastbound transit traffic increased by 94 per cent, up to 40,200 tonnes.
As for the transportation of containers, this freight showed a significant increase of 77.2 per cent compared to the same period of the last year. Meanwhile, the total container traffic between the two countries is still low. Only 27,757 boxes were moved in the first half of 2021.