HHLA is thus expanding its intermodal business and extending its offering for hub-to-hub transportation in seaport-hinterland traffic. "HHLA has extensive expertise in the intermodal business. With an efficient train system based on customer-friendly services, transparent prices, simple booking processes and reliable schedules, we want to tap into the great potential of the Ukrainian intermodal market," says Philip Sweens, Managing Director of HHLA International. Together with local partners, the aim is to break down barriers to rail transportation in Ukraine and establish and market a reliable service offering.

Until now, container transportation by rail in Ukraine has been carried out almost exclusively on individual wagons or groups of wagons. The newly founded UIC bundles the individual loads into container block trains, thereby increasing the efficiency and reliability of transportation. Since the beginning of October 2020, UIC has been offering weekly block train connections between Odessa and Ternopil in the western Ukrainian economic region of Lviv/Lviv. In November, a weekly service to the industrial center of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine after Kiev, will also start operating. There are also plans to operate a weekly container train between Odessa and Zaporizhia in the east.

In the port of Odessa, HHLA operates the Container Terminal Odessa (CTO), the largest handling facility for containers in Ukraine. The CTO has its own terminal station, which is currently being expanded and where the container block trains are assembled. Domestic handling is carried out in cooperation with private rail terminal operators. Additional services such as the loading and unloading of containers, hub-to-door delivery to customers by truck and customs clearance round off the range of services. UIC works according to Western-oriented quality standards and, as a neutral operator, grants all shipping companies and freight forwarders open access to its intermodal services. There are plans to expand the range of regular train connections to other Ukrainian production and consumer centers and to increase frequencies.