At the heart of Ukraine

Transporting goods by road and rail. The Ukrainian rolling stock operator Lemtrans has opened a new container handling hub in Ukraine with annual capacities to handle approximately 30,000 teu. Now the firm is also looking beyond the borders of its war-torn home base.

Photo: Lemtrans

The Vinnytsia Container Terminal (CTV) is located around 270 km southwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. In addition to its modern rail infrastructure the 8 ha facility also includes a container depot with the capacity to store 2,000 teu, and a 3,500 m2 covered warehouse.

The first train handled there, carrying 60 teu, was dispatched at the beginning of September. Since then, freight trains have regularly connected the intermodal hub with the Polish port of Gdańsk. They are jointly operated by ZU Cargo Poland and the Liski transport service centre of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian Railways.

The CTV also dispatches containers to and from Odesa. In future trains will also run between Vinnytsia and a number of EU countries, and connect the terminal with hubs located in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

The new hub improves regional cargo handling options, as it offers cargo owners new transport solutions. With the hub, exporters and importers will no longer depend on the size of their shipments or on trading companies with international business activities, according to Lemtrans, which is a part of Ukraine’s SCM holding.

The Vinnytsia Container Terminal is part of a major project over the next few years that will see Lemtrans establish a network of container terminals covering all of Ukraine.