The project procured a total of thirteen Polish-made MEGA LIGHT 3 grain semi-trailers with a load capacity of 25.5 tons and delivered them to the company. With these USAID trailers, NIBULON’s truck fleet consists of 131 vehicles with grain semi-trailers, providing an average transport volume of 16 million ton-kilometers per month.
It is expected that each trailer will operate up to 140,000 ton-kilometers per month, optimizing the economic efficiency of grain transportation, as the cost of grain transportation using the company’s own vehicles is 20% lower than using the services of external operators.
At the same time, NIBULON’s current need for road transport from the ports on the Dnipro to railway stations is 420,000 ton-kilometers per month, and from the ports on the Southern Buh to the newly built Bessarabska branch – 23.5 million. Consequently, there is potential for even greater reduction in logistics costs. It should be noted that before the war, logistics costs in Ukraine were $20-25 per ton. At the beginning of the war, they rose to $150 per ton. Now, thanks to the efforts of the defense forces ensuring the operation of deep-water ports in Odesa and with the support of donors, it was possible to stabilize logistics costs at about $60 per ton.
According to Mykhailo Rizak, NIBULON’s Director of Government Relations, the receipt of new grain trailers from USAID is another step towards reducing logistics costs and preserving 592 jobs at the river ports on the Dnipro and the Southern Buh, which have been blocked due to the Russian invasion.
Mykhailo is convinced that it is necessary to continue consolidating efforts of the international community to reduce logistics costs through:
- evacuating the fleet from Mykolaiv to the Danube River;
- ensuring the competitiveness of the Danube ports, which are at least $5 per ton more expensive than the deep-water ports of Odessa, by introducing a special Ukrzaliznytsia tariff (approximately UAH 1 from Chornomorsk to the Danube ports and back);
- providing donor assistance in the form of wagons, trailers, and other equipment, as NIBULON’s blocked river ports alone require 250 wagons and 80 trailers.
We are grateful to the USAID Economic Resilience Activity for enabling us to continue fulfilling our mission with dignity. Feeding the world together!
