Metinvest railroad bottleneck removed by Ukrzaliznytsia

Ukrainian Railway (RAILUA) reported in a Dec. 18
statement that it has increased the throughput capacity of the
Komysh-Zorya–Volnovakha railway section to 24 cargo trains per day – and
potentially to 26-28 – from 16 trains per day previously. This section used to
be a major bottleneck for raw material supplies to, and for transporting iron
and steel products to the Black Sea ports from, the Mariupol steel plants of
Metinvest (METINV), Ukraine’s largest steel producer.

This railway section is currently being used to test
locomotives recently purchased from General Electric (GE US),
Ukrainian Railway acting CEO Yevhen Kravtsov noted in the company’s statement.

Dmytro
Khoroshun: As in several previous
instances of Ukrainian Railway statements regarding this bottleneck, it remains
to be tested whether the new throughput capacity is achievable in practice. If
so, Metinvest’s Mariupol plants should be effectively debottlenecked as far as
railroad transportation is concerned. We estimate that the increase of throughput
to 24-28 trains per day should allow Metinvest to redirect its entire product
volume currently being transported through the Azov Sea to Black Sea ports in
case of an escalation of the Azov Sea blockade by Russia.