With its endless grain fields, Ukraine is the granary of the world. But because of the Russian invasion, the country is stuck on its supplies, and famine threatens across the globe. The federal government wants to help now – with an ambitious rail plan.
The federal government wants to quickly bring grain from Ukraine to the European Union overland and has promised financial resources for the transport. “We are working flat out to ensure that the grain can be transported from Ukraine by rail in order to prevent global famine,” said the federal government’s rail commissioner, Michael Theurer (FDP), on Sunday to the “Handelsblatt”.
According to Theurer, in view of the shortage of wagons, a fund should be set up to procure new containers for grain. “In the optimistic case, ten of 23 million tons can be transported away,” said the FDP politician. He also announced guarantees for dangerous transports. In this way, the risk of losing trains due to the effects of war can be reduced. The grain bridge is “in full swing” and is being organized by the various departments of the Federal Government in coordination with the European Commission.
Due to the war and the fact that Ukraine, as one of the largest grain exporters in the world, can no longer deliver, food is already becoming scarce in several countries around the world. According to Ukrainian data, more than 23 million tons of grain and oilseeds cannot be exported.
In fact, since the beginning of the aggressive war more than three months ago, the Russian Navy has been blockading the Ukrainian Black Sea ports or has occupied ports in Mariupol and Kherson. Ukraine, the world’s fourth largest grain exporter, is therefore stuck on its own stocks. About 90 percent of all grain exports left the country by sea before the war.
In addition, Ukraine accuses the Russian army of stealing large quantities of grain. Moscow, in turn, blames Ukraine for the crisis because it refuses to clear sea mines. According to its own statements, Ukraine uses the mines for defense and protection against Russian warships.
Poland also wants to expand the options for transporting grain from Ukraine. “If we work very hard on it, we can reach 1.5 million tons per month in the near future,” said Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk on Friday after a meeting with EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. At present one is in the process of increasing the clearance capacities at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossings.
Ukraine has expressed the expectation of being able to export up to five million tons of grain overland via Poland. However, Kowalczyk conceded that this could not be done because Poland was not technically prepared for it. The biggest problem is the different track widths of the railways – in Ukraine, tracks are laid in Russian broad gauge. In addition, there is a lack of containers for transport, said Poland’s Minister of Agriculture.
In a letter to several federal ministries, the Federal Association of Agricultural Trade calls for the establishment of a national coordination office in order to quickly create more capacity. “In our opinion, the logistics for grain and oilseeds should be just as important as supplying Ukrainian agriculture with operating resources for the new harvest,” says the letter to Transport Minister Volker Wissing and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (both FDP ) as well as Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (both Green). This would set the course for supplying the world “until the summer of 2024”.
Deutsche Bahn should also help with its freight transport division. “We do everything that we as a company can do out of social responsibility,” said a spokesman for the Handelsblatt. “With our European DB Cargo subsidiaries in Poland and Romania, we are already running several trains a day with grain through Europe to various seaports. Now it is a question of expanding these agricultural exports.” The goal is stable connections to the seaports of the North Sea and the Black and Mediterranean Seas.
EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has accused Russia of blocking UN efforts to export grain. UN negotiators have been trying for weeks to get millions of tons from Ukraine onto the world market, for example to avert hunger crises in other regions of the world. “It is clear who is responsible for the blockade,” said Dombrovskis on Sunday in Geneva before the start of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference. “It’s up to Russia to end its aggression and it’s up to Russia to stop stopping Ukrainian exports.”
During his visit to Ukraine, Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) had previously pledged support to farmers in the war-torn country. Özdemir also promised Germany’s help in finding alternative export routes for grain, as the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday. At the same time, Özdemir questioned the Russian announcements about a corridor for grain exports across the Black Sea.
“I share the skepticism in Ukraine that one cannot trust Putin’s word that he would allegedly be willing to allow corridors across the Black Sea,” Özdemir said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It would be kamikaze for Ukraine to take Putin’s word without credible, effective military guarantees that the security of Ukraine’s ports and ships is secured,” Özdemir added, according to a statement published by his ministry on Twitter video added.
On Wednesday, Russia agreed to provide security guarantees for grain-exporting ships from Ukrainian ports. This could happen “in cooperation with our Turkish colleagues,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a press conference in Ankara after meeting his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Özdemir expressed concern about the international food supply on Friday. “We know that supplies are running out in many countries and that supplies from Ukraine in particular are important,” he said.
The Federal Minister of Agriculture met in Ukraine with his Ukrainian colleague Mykola Solskyj, among others. “The fight that the people of Ukraine are fighting, they are fighting on behalf of all the people in the world who believe in democracy, in human rights and do not believe that the future will be determined by authoritarian rulers like Mr Putin,” said Ozdemir. “And then, of course, it’s also about showing that Ukraine is alive, Ukraine will live.”
