The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe, due to the blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border in November of this year, received a total loss or additionally spent 1.2 million dollars, Aleksey Yanovsky, director of procurement and logistics of the group, told the Interfax-Ukraine agency in response upon request.
“Under the blockade of the Black Sea ports, the main modes of transport for delivering Interpipe products to clients in 2023 are road and water, which account for a total of 79% of shipped products. At the same time, road transport to European clients is very important for our company, since at the end of nine months they accounted for 38% of all shipped products,” stated Yanovsky.
According to him, cars with the company’s products actively crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border through the checkpoints Yagodin - Dorogusk, Krakovets - Korcheva, Rava-Russkaya - Grebennoye, but since November 6 they have been blocked.
“This led to Interpipe not delivering already manufactured products to European customers, some orders were also postponed from November to December. These are our direct losses in November from the strike,” said the director of procurement and logistics.
He also said that, in addition to this, there are indirect losses. In particular, in order to avoid blocked checkpoints, the flow of cars was redirected to other free crossings in Slovakia and Romania. The increase in transport coverage has led to an increase in the cost of transporting products.
In addition, the load on Slovak and Romanian crossings has increased, which is why queues have formed there and the number of ordinary cars has increased.
“Our clients They are also preparing to file claims and cancel already concluded transactions. At the same time, Interpipe bought a number of imported goods, which also cannot cross the border through the blockade. Consequently, we are left without the necessary imports, and European sellers of these goods are left without sales in Ukraine,” Yanovsky emphasized.
As reported, due to the protest of Polish carriers that began on November 6 at the Yagodin-Dorogusk border crossings, Krakovets - Korczowa and Rava Russkaya - Grebennoe queues for entry in front of the blocked checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border on the Polish side reached 40 km.
The organizers of the blockade, demanding the abolition of the “transport visa-free regime” introduced with the war for Ukraine, reported that, according to official permission from local authorities, the action will last until January 3, 2024, however, at some points there are already permits to extend it until February.
Interpipe is a Ukrainian industrial company, a manufacturer of seamless pipes and railway wheels . Its products are supplied to more than 80 countries through a network of sales offices located in key markets in the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2022, Interpipe sold 384 thousand tons of pipe products and 87 thousand tons of railway products. Railway products are sold under the KLW brand.
The company structure includes five industrial assets: Interpipe Nizhnedneprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant (NTZ), Interpipe Novomoskovsk Pipe Plant (NMTZ), Interpipe Niko-Tube, Dnepropetrovsk Vtormet and the Dneprostal electric steelmaking complex . Interpipe Steel.
The ultimate owner of Interpipe Limited is Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk and members of his family.
