The European Commission set out on Thursday an action plan to help Ukraine export its agricultural goods by using EU infrastructure.
The EU executive body suggested establishing so-called “solidarity lanes” for humanitarian aid and to ensure that Ukraine can export grain and import essential goods.
“It is essential to coordinate and optimize the logistic chains, put in place new routes, and avoid, as much as possible, the bottlenecks,” EU Commissioner for transport Adina Valean said, presenting the action plan.
She stressed that the bloc and Ukraine are facing a “gigantesque challenge” because over 20 million tons of grains have to be transported in three months.
Valean explained that there are several infrastructural challenges, such as the incompatibility of Ukrainian train wagons to the European rail network that demands the goods to be loaded to trucks or new wagons.
With the action plan, the European Commission urges EU market actors to make additional vehicles available and sets up coordination points together with EU member states to match demand and offer.
The EU executive body also asks EU governments to cut the red tape with customs and other inspections, and assess their storage capacities to temporarily store Ukrainian goods.
