Ukraine plans to launch cargo train to China next year

KIEV - Ukraine plans to launch a cargo train from its south-western port of Illichivsk to China via the rail-sea Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) in 2017, Ukrainian Deputy Infrastructure Minister Viktor Dovgan said on Tuesday.

"We expect to launch two ferries at the beginning of the next year," Dovgan was quoted as saying by the press service of Ukraine's Association of Ports.

The main challenge for launching the new train service is its low competitiveness on the global freight transit market, Dovgan said, noting that the current shipping cost of one container on the TITR route is some 6,000 U.S. dollars while on traditional routes it is about 30 percent lower.

The Ukrainian side is ready to reduce port charges and increase the number of operators to make the service cheaper, he emphasized.

In January this year, Ukraine launched a test run of cargo train consisting of 20 containers to China via the TITR, traversing Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

However, the establishment of the regular service was postponed to make the route more attractive to businesses.