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First container train full of Belarusian woodworking products off to Romania
GANTSEVICHI, 5 March (BelTA) – A solemn ceremony took place in Gantsevichi, Brest Oblast on 5 March to send off the first container train, which will deliver products of Belarusian woodworking companies to Romania, BelTA has learned.
The train comprises 124 increased-capacity containers on 31 special well cars. The train is expected to reach the terminal station Vikshani in Romania within 39 hours. First Deputy Director General of the state enterprise Belintertrans Alexander Yanchevsky noted: “This major project is very important for our enterprise and Belarusian Railways as a whole. It has been implemented thanks to cooperation with Ukrainian and Slovenian partners. The train is supposed to transport wood chips from Belarus to a factory in Romania via Ukraine four times per month. The train will be loaded not only in Gantsevichi but also in other forestry enterprises in the Pripyat direction.”
In the past Belarusian wood chips were delivered to Romania in gondola cars as part of mixed-cargo trains with travel times longer than optimal ones. Dedicated container trains will be able to reduce delivery times, driving up the export of woodworking products. In 2019 Romanian partners are expected to get 120,000 tonnes of wood chips by rail. "Upon coming back from Romania the train will go to where the forestry enterprises have prepared their products for shipment. We intend to arrange things in a way to fully load the train at one station,” Alexander Yanchevsky added. Plans have been made to use three container trains in the future, which will shuttle between Belarus and Romania a total of 12 times per month.
First Deputy Head of Belarusian Railways Igor Shilov said: “Last year we launched the train Minsk-Riga-Minsk, which performs admirably. Today’s event represents a logical continuation of this project. We invite Belarusian and foreign companies to use the new logistics product and get their goods delivered from Baltic states to South Europe and back.” Woodworking companies are also interested in expanding container transportation. Deputy Director of the commercial wood export enterprise Bellesexport Sergei Matyulin added: “We would like to see the same wood chips delivery technology used for other destinations – Baltic states, Poland. We have enough resources and volumes. Forestry enterprises are ready to ship up to 300,000 tonnes per month.”
Transporting more and more export and import freight of Belarusian companies is a high priority in the work of Belarusian Railways. In particular, as part of the efforts to develop the North-South corridor together with Russian Railways and Azerbaijan Railways the company is considering launching a container train between Minsk and Baku. It will allow delivering Belarusian goods to Azerbaijan within only seven days.
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