Metinvest Group and Lemtrans have agreed on long-term cooperation

Metinvest Group and Lemtrans signed a cooperation agreement for three years. By the end of 2020, Lemtrans guarantees to meet with its own fleet about 50% of Metinvest Group's gondola needs.

Within the framework of the agreement, Lemtrans, in addition to providing Metinvest with gondola cars, will also carry out management and technical management for all gondola cars of the mining and metallurgical holding. This includes the provision of freight forwarding services, information support, as well as the repair of the Group's rolling stock. The signed agreement takes into account the experience of the previous three-year cooperation between the two companies and provides for new mutually beneficial opportunities.

Timely delivery of products to customers is one of Metinvest's top priorities. In the context of a shortage of rolling stock on the Ukrainian market, including due to the deteriorating situation with car turnover and periodic congestion due to operational problems of Ukrzaliznytsia, Metinvest Group is forced to take strategic steps aimed at increasing the availability of open wagons. In particular, the Group is expanding its own gondola car fleet and entered into a long-term agreement with Lemtrans. Thanks to this, in the near future, about 20% of Metinvest's cargo transportation needs will be met by its own gondola cars, and 50% will be covered by Lemtrans. The company expects to close the remaining 30% with open-top wagons from the market - priority wagons from the Ukrzaliznytsia fleet, if this intention of Metinvest Group is supported by the state-owned railway company.

Alexey Solovey, General Director of Metinvest-Shipping LLC:

- Considering the scale and duration of the contract, this event is significant for the Ukrainian rail transport market. Mutual obligations of the parties, which are planned for a long-term period, will allow us to increase the reliability of supplies in the conditions of unstable transportation through the Ukrzaliznytsia network, and our partner will focus on increasing efficiency and improving the quality of service. This format is promising for cooperation between shippers with a stable cargo base and rolling stock operators who strategically see themselves in the Ukrainian railcar market.

General Director of Lemtrans LLC Vladimir Mezentsev:

- The agreement on long-term cooperation, which we signed, corresponds to the chosen vector of development of the Lemtrans company, aimed at expanding partnerships with the largest industrial enterprises of Ukraine. A three-year contract will allow you to optimally plan the production and investment activities of the company, as well as create additional value�