The Freeport of Riga has acquired new discharging containers to stimulate bulk goods transportation, especially grain. The new equipment could reduce the reloading time from train to vessel by two-thirds, accounting for around 20 hours. Additionally, it could prove useful in a scenario where Ukraine starts grain exports via Baltic ports. 

Sergejs Petrovs, sales manager of Graviti, the company that provides the discharging containers for the Freeport of Riga, told RailFreight.com that six self-discharging containers were delivered to Riga. Such containers have been utilised in the Batumi port in Georgia as well. The container could handle 600 tons of bulk goods per hour with the battery implanted inside. “Currently, such containers mostly serve grain volumes, such as the ones coming from Ukraine,” Petrovs said.

Ukraine to the Baltics

Though Poland could extend the ban on importing Ukrainian grain, the transit route via the country will not be affected that much, and it could benefit Ukraine to reach Baltic ports to export its agricultural goods. As Evgeny Lyashchenko, Chairman of the Board of Ukrainian Railways (UZ), said, the rail cooperation between Ukraine and the Baltic countries “is a rather complex and long-term project”. One of the fundamental points, he said, is that tariffs to reach the Baltic ports should be competitive with the ones to reach Polish ports. Lyashchenko stressed the necessity of the European Union implementing subsidies to cover the differences in these tariffs.

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