USAID, through its Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), delivered 25 grain wagons to the Almeida Group, a rail freight and truck logistics provider in Ukraine, to increase its grain export capacity.
Almeida Group will use the wagons to transport grains to the company’s terminals on Ukraine’s western border, in Zakarpattia Lviv and Chernivtsi Oblasts, where it transships grains and oilseeds from wide gauge wheelsets (1535 mm) with European gauge wheelsets (1420 mm), as well as to the ports in Odesa and Izmail (Odesa Oblast).
The full-scale war has fundamentally changed the company’s operations. Until February 2022, Almeida Group had two elevators in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and was one of the largest shippers in the region. After Russia’s invasion in 2022, the company lost all its production facilities, significantly impacting its business. However, Almeida Group managed to relocate almost the entire team from the temporarily occupied territories and, in May 2022, opened a new transshipment terminal in Chernivtsi Oblast. Later, it also opened two more terminals in Lviv and Zakarpattia Oblasts. Currently, Almeida Group is building a multimodal terminal in Chernivtsi Oblast, which will increase both the quantity and variety of export cargo.
Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.