Thread by @Arnold_Platon

There have been various things happening in south-eastern 🇷🇴 Romania with regards to the war in Ukraine. Especially related to railways and ports, mostly for the export of grain.

A mildly chaotic, slow moving thread🧵 bringing various info together.

1/?

First of all, a link to an older thread of mine with extracts from a Liberation article on the links between 🇺🇦 Odesa and the port of 🇷🇴 Constanța.

2/

A reminder that in April the transport scheme (see maps below) involved going from Odesa to Bilhorod-Dniestrovsky and then down to the Danube ports. Since then the situation on the ground evolved both in a positive and negative way...

3/

In late April and early May, several Russian missiles struck the bridge above the mouth of the Dniester estuary, connecting Odesa and Bilhorod-Dniestrovsky, which is afaik the only rail link between the two sides of 🇺🇦 Odesa region.

4/

A great thread by @PaliparanDotCom explaining the situation in western Odesa region and why the destruction of the estuary bridge was such a problem

5/

Now for the good news. On June 6, after having failed to atract good enough private bids, the Romanian railway company decided to repair the old soviet gauge rail link between Ukraine/Moldova and the Danube port of Galați 🇷🇴. Two months of work were planned...

6/

But given that the state rail company mobilized teams of workers from the nearby counties, it was clear they wanted to finish the line earlier (the political pressure must be immense).

And they actually managed to open the main section 1 month early.

7/

And why is this important? Cause Galați is a mixed river+maritime port. So 🇺🇦 grain can come via broad gauge rail directly to port, and can be loaded into transport ships, without other time consuming steps (rail gauge change, or truck intermediaries)

8/

Another bit of good news: the Berezino 🇺🇦 - Basarabeanca 🇲🇩 railway will be reopened in September, helping link 🇲🇩 to the Danube port of 🇺🇦 Ismail, in addition to 🇺🇦 Reni, which is 🇲🇩 main export hub, and over crowded...

9/

There is a general trend I see, as the war is accelerating the integration the whole region between 🇺🇦 Odesa, southern 🇲🇩 & 🇷🇴 Galați-Brăila, as well as the maritime port of Constanța further away.

I expect news of river port upgrades in the future

10/

moldpres.md/news/2022/06/2…

Returning a bit to the 🇷🇴 maritime port of Constanța, works have begun to upgrade 35 railway lines within the port complex which have been abandoned to nature during post-communist decades, as a lot of transport towards the port switched to trucks

11/

digi24.ro/stiri/economie…

The increase in capacity demand due to the war, has revealed chronic underinvestment in port infrastructure.
(Keep in mind Romania is also a grain exporting country).

An article from yesterday talked about a 5km queue of trucks at the port entrance

12/

g4media.ro/video-coloana-…

"With Constanța filling up, shippers are making more enquiries about using [Bulgaria’s port of] Varna in recent weeks.

Like in 🇷🇴, the gov't of 🇧🇬 has simplified cross-border rules for trucks carrying Ukrainian import and export cargoes" 👇

splash247.com/alternate-ukra…

For a very detailed article on the grain situation in Romania, on how harvest, storage and export via Constanța happens, there is an excellentarticle on @RFERL below.

Lots of very interesting details on weak points and where the war's putting presure

14/
romania.europalibera.org/a/blocaj-cerea…

Also an very interesting math problem a lot of people might now know (and which shows why trains are preferrable to trucks).

To fill a grain ship 🚢 bound for export, you need either:

40 trains 🚂 = 1 🚢
50 river barges 🛥️ = 1 🚢
1000 trucks 🚚 = 1 🚢

15/

Another bit of worrying maths:

Grain, mostly Romanian, exported via the Port of Constanța last year: 🌾 25 tones

Grain waiting to be exported from Ukraine this year: 🌾 22 tones

Ukrainian grain moved so far via Constanța: 🌾 1,5 tones

Seriously, read the @RFERL article!

/16

Erratum: it is indeed "millions of tones"

Green light has also been given for the modernisation work of the Danube port of Brăila, 10km south of Galați.

While I suspect the project might predate the war, I'm sure the process has been expedited due to the conflict.

17/

economica.net/a-fost-emis-or…

In Sulina, city right at the mouth of the Danube, a new, 40m, maritime quay (?) was built, in addition to the 5 existing ones.

This was done to help expedite border formalities & other needs of the ships waiting (see tweet /8) to go load up in Galați

/18
newsweek.ro/economie/video…

The increased traffic on the Danube has also inevitably increased the risk of accidents. Three weeks ago two ships collided lighly near Tulcea.

(Brings back memories of the 🇺🇦 ship Rostock, sank in '91, blocking the navigability of Sulina branch.)

19/
evz.ro/exclusiv-accid…

A look at the 🇺🇦 Orlivka - 🇷🇴 Isaccea crossing. It used to have a single ferry that crossed each 90 minutes.

Due to demand (refugees, then trucks), an additional ferry was moved from Galați a month ago, while the crossing at Galați was serviced by a military ferry (📷👇)

/19

Even so, this crossing, 150km north of Constanța, takes a lot of the 🇷🇴📦🇺🇦 truck flow, and can only move 100 truck/day. There is a huge backlog:

Trucks wait 3-4 daysat Isaccea to cross into 🇺🇦, and wait 9-10 days at Orlivka to cross into 🇷🇴🇪🇺.

/21

romania.europalibera.org/a/sofer-tir-is…

Worth watching the video in the article above 👆 (partly in English).

Trucks waiting in multiple improvised spots with no amenities, no way of buying stuff.

And bonus: the road to the crossing will be renovated come September (woefully inadequate now - 1st 📷👇)

/22

A very good question. Unfortunately the trains arriving to Galați wil come from Ukraine via the northermost crossings of 🇲🇩 Otaci / 🇺🇦 Mohyliv-Podilsky, going all around Transnistria. I assume a lot of southern Ukraine 🌾 will be exported via truck..

/22

There are 4 potential Odesa-Galați rail routes:

1️⃣. Bridge blown by 🇷🇺 + section missing till sept (see beginning of 🧵)
2️⃣. (Transnistria) - Bridge blown by 🇺🇦
3️⃣. (Transnistria) - next to Cobasna Soviet era ammo dump. Closed imo.
4️⃣. The one still open

tv8.md/2022/04/03/vid…

Started before the war, and in the general context of infrastructure in the region, there is also a massive bridge being built across the Danube at 🇷🇴 Brăila, to be opened in Dec. 2022. It'll help shorten the road route towards the port of Constanța

/24

monitorizari.hotnews.ro/stiri-infrastr…

A @guardian article with some 🇺🇦🌾 grain export numbers:

March: 200k tonnes
April: 1.6m
May: 1.74m
June: >2.5m

"But this capacity is still not enough, because normally with our six ports in the Odesa region we used to export 5-6m tonnes / month."

/25

theguardian.com/world/2022/jul…

Ukraine 🇺🇦 has also been renovating and upgrading its Danube river port infrastructure.

I've read about renovations of Reni port, and a totally new grain terminal has been built near Izmail, in two months, and is now being put into service.

/26
newsweek.ro/international/…

An excellent series of photos in the link below by @RFERL! 📷

Thank you @PostcardDepot!

/27

To aleviate trafic in south-western Moldova, a new border crossing has been established at 🇲🇩 Leova - 🇷🇴 Bumbăta. They already managed to set up a pontoon bridge, and it seems a permanent bridge is being built in the months ahead.

📷 @Timpul

Some interesting remarks by @Mil2Roro
about how the port of Constanța only has limited spare capacity, and even adding a bit more, won't be able to handle *all* of 🇺🇦's needs.

Why some of 🇺🇦🌾 exports also going towards 🇧🇬, 🇵🇱, 🇱🇹 or even 🇳🇱.

If I understand correctly, after the announcement of the completion of the wide gauge rail the other day, the first ships have now started to move towards Galați port.

Great to see it becoming operational and taking pressure off Constanța!

/30

.@HeinrichT9 reminded me that I didn't look at the Moldovan Danube port of Giurgiulești. Here's a quite detailed article:

"Overall YoY volumes moving through Giurgiulești Int'l Free Port have more than doubled so far in 2022, reaching 804k tons"

/31
finchannel.com/giurgiulesti-p…

Ukrainian agri-group Alebor will build a grain terminal at Vadul-Siret, at the border with norther Romania (south of Chernivtsi) by September. It's to stock and transfer grain between trains of diferent gauges. A second line will be added by January.

/32

agrointel.ro/228647/grupul-…

Continuing with the 🇷🇴🇺🇦 rail infrastructure at the northern border:

In May, the state rail company renovated wide & normal gauge lines at 🇷🇴 Vicșani (south of Cernivtsi) and Halmeu (🇷🇴🇺🇦🇭🇺 tri-border) border stations, to improve freight movement

/33

adevarul.ro/economie/stiri…

Correction on tweet /30 👇:
"It is not only the port at Galați that is opened by these ships transiting from the Black Sea, it is all ports from Izmail, UA to Novi Sad, Serbia with a draught upto 7.5m Class VII"

Follow @UkrainesGrains foor updates!

/34

"After the liberation of Snake Island from the Russian troops, it became possible to use not only the Sulina Canal, but also the Bystroe Estuary for the passage of ships from the Black Sea to the ports of the Danube"

/35

usionline.com/posle-osvobozh…

/35 🌾⛴️🇺🇦

Rostock (on the Baltic Sea) received an exception by the Bundestag for the passing of trucks towards the harbour during Sunday and bank holidays. Also maximum weight admited was increased by 10%. This is to facilitate export of 🇺🇦 grain.

/37

trans.info/ro/portul-rost…

Also interesting trade stats for the 🇷🇴 Danube ports. Maritime trade up, river traffic down (though up in Braila by +280%). Grain exports up (+210% in Galați Docuri, +60% Galați Bazinul Nou, +50% in Brăila). But some other imports down 👇

/38

puterea.ro/razboiul-din-u…

With Odesa blockaded, 🇲🇩 Moldovan trade via Constanța is up +820%, 🇺🇦 Ukranian trade via Constanța up 144%.

/39

mold-street.com/?go=news&n=144…

"[Constanța port operator] Comvex has invested 4 mil. € in a second barge offloading platform which became operational at the end of July, and boosted its total processing capacity to 84k tonnes in and 70k tonnes out per day."

/40

Another important bit from the article above:

"Transport from Ukraine has been hampered by rail infrastructure problems and low water levels on the Danube after weeks of high temperatures and drought, meaning barges cannot carry full loads."

/41

In order relieve pressure from the maritime port of Constanța (600 truck queue), the last leg of the Danube (east of Sulina) will be dredged, increasing navigable depth from 7,2m to 11m, allowing 35k tdw ships to enter up to Sulina Free Zone (point 35👇 to be dredged too)

/42

This would let cargo be barged down to Sulina from other Danube ports, with maritime ships entering up to Sulina to pick up cargo (i.e. a second maritime port, though wonder if existing infrastructure's up to it). Estimated 500k tonnes of cargo/month

/43

romanialibera.ro/economie/econo…

Company CEO that has 30% 🇷🇴 rail freight details the measures needed to be able to take in 8 times more 🇺🇦 grain (360k t). Investment in border area transfer areas, finishing investments at Constanța port as well as labor market reforms. Do read.

/44

cursdeguvernare.ro/gruia-stoica-g…

One month after broad gauge line finished, first 20-car grain train (6000 t) arrives all the way to 🇷🇴 Galați port, via 🇲🇩. Must be broken up into 6-7 car bits to move into port facility and unloaded to silo (45min/car). First ship comes next week.

/45

monitoruldegalati.ro/stirea-zilei/p…