Page 63 - UKRRptDec20

German logistics company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, or HHLA, has set up a Ukraine unit to send containers by rail to major cities from Odesa’s Container Terminal​. Although container traffic was up by 8.5% last year, to 650,000 units, only 22% of the containers leave the port by rail, less than half the market share of HHLA’s home port, Hamburg. This fall is starting to work with container trains from Odesa to Kharkiv, Ternopil and Zaporizhia. Philip Sweens, managing director of HHLA International, told Container Management news site: “With an efficient train system based on customer-friendly services, transparent prices, simple booking processes and reliable timetables, we want to tap the considerable potential of the Ukrainian intermodal market.”
● Ships
Ukraine’s seaports handled 132mn tons of cargo through October, ​2% more than during the first 10 months of last year, reports the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. Exports were up 4%, to 101mn tons. The top two exports were: grain, 39mn tons; and ore, 37mn tons. Ore exports, largely to China, were up 22% y/y. Imports were down 6%, to 20mn tons. Containers were up 7%, to 870,000 units.
● Cars
Roads were paved in all 24 regions this year​. Six were leaders: Kharkiv -- 262 km; Zakarpattia – 248 km; Zaporizhia -- 220 km; Sumy -197 km; Khmelnytskyi –194 km; Cherkasy 163 km; and Lviv 155 km. Next year, Ukravtodor plans to rebuild 150 bridges. Two big ticket projects start next year: Kyiv’s $3bn ring road; and construction of a new $430mn bridge over the Dnipro, in Kremenchuk.
Ukravtodor announced that it reached 93% of its target of rebuilding 4,200 km of roads during the 2020 highway construction season. ​Next year, the state highways agency plans to oversee the repair or rebuilding of 6,800 km of roads, almost 75% more than the amount completed this year. Ukravtodor CEO Oleksandr Kubrakov reports three main sources of money for this year’s roadbuilding: $1bn from the Road Fund; almost $1bn from the Stockholm arbitration with Gazprom; and $540mn from international organizations, such as the World Bank and the European Investment Bank.
Ukravtodor plans to repair 6,800 km of roads next year, almost 30% more than the target for 2020​, Alexander Kubrakov, head of the state highway agency, said yesterday at the presentation of the public private partnership plan for roads. Funding sources are: the Road Fund, funds raised under state guarantees, loans from international financials institutions, such as the World Bank, and possibly the first public private partnership.
The first phase focuses on ‘brownfields’ – upgrading existing roads.
These highway sections will be become Ukraine’s first toll roads, but will be “installment roads,” Krykliy said. Under this system investors first pay for construction, then recoup their investments through highway infrastructure, largely gas stations, restaurants and billboards. Ukraine is one of a few major countries in the world without toll roads. The online information session drew 310 participants from 43 countries and 38 companies, Krykliy later wrote on his Telegram channel.
63​ UKRAINE Country Report​ December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com