ÖBB RCG strengthen Ukraine ties with transport of grain

Credit: ÖBB RCG

ÖBB Rail Cargo Group (RCG) has been supporting Ukraine, since the start of the war, with transport and logistics services. RCG has been transporting grain out of Ukraine with all its available resources, to ensure money and storage space for the local sowing and harvesting, and to counteract the rising cost of living. Between the outbreak of war and the end of August, 580,000 tonnes of grain were transported out of the Ukraine by RCG. In August alone, this total was over 145,000 tonnes.

Due to the geographical location of the grain processing companies, a majority of the deliveries in August were transported to Hungary, followed by Germany, Italy, and Romania, as well as the Netherlands. During this journey, the RCG grain transporters cross over four borders. Over the Ukrainian-Slovak border by Chop, the Hungarian-Ukrainian border Záhony, the Ukrainian-Romanian border Reni, as well as the Ukrainian-Polish border Chyriw.

ÖBB RCG route for Ukraine – Credit: ÖBB RCG

RCG’s cooperation with the Ukrainian State railway Ukrzaliznica (UZ) will be further developed over the upcoming months to quicken grain exportation in the face of rising demands. The implementation of a permanent bilateral working party was approved at the end of August 2022. In doing so, operations such as the data exchange and processes between cooperation partners (i.e. the workload of the transhipment capacity) will be optimised.

The online agricultural marketplace GrainLane, developed by RCG and an IT partner, has been connecting Ukrainian farmers with retailers, consumers, and logistics providers since 2022. Over 200,000 tonnes of grain, soy and dry corn are currently being traded by over 1,000 registered users. Parties interested in agricultural products can discuss details individually with sellers, and GrainLane optionally supports them with transport offers thanks to the partner networks of RCG. In this way, Ukrainian manufacturers can initiate new business relationships with international customers such as mills, traders, exporters, and so foster a basis for growing exports by land. The RCG has made GrainLane free for all market participants providing, besides the transportation they carry out, a further, pivotal contribution to the grain export out of Ukraine.