Ukraine Archives

Schmitz Cargobull provides help for Ukraine

Posted on 23 December, 202229 July, 2025 by David Priestman

With its internal pre-Christmas initiative ‘Give the gift of solidarity’, Schmitz Cargobull employees have collected almost €19,000 to support their colleagues in Ukraine during the ongoing war with Russia. Most of the money raised will be used to purchase ‘PowerHouses’ for the colleagues, which they can use to charge electrical appliances during power cuts.

Schmitz Cargobull AG has been supporting its Ukrainian employees since the beginning of the war and also regularly donates to the aid organisation Brücke, which delivers medical supplies to crisis areas. Donations amounting to more than €11,000 have already been made to Brücke from the Schmitz Cargobull network.

On behalf of Schmitz Cargobull AG, CEO Andreas Schmitz is donating €30,000, thus doubling the support to a total of €60,000. The cheque was handed over to Andriy Leso, co-founder of the Brücke association at the Schmitz Cargobull plant in Altenberge.

“Brücke provides great humanitarian aid. Urgently needed medical equipment is delivered directly to the crisis areas. And what Schmitz Cargobull employees have now set up for their colleagues in Ukraine makes us on the Board really proud. We are delighted with the great commitment of our employees. By doubling the donations, we are showing how important to us it is to provide targeted support to our people in Ukraine during this brutal war,” says Andreas Schmitz.

Ongoing support for Ukraine

Since the beginning of the war, Schmitz Cargobull has supported the Ukrainian employees of its subsidiary in the country and ensured their safety. In addition, the company participated in numerous aid campaigns immediately after the war had started, for example by providing vehicles worth €130,000.

Before Christmas, the employees of Schmitz Cargobull initiated the internal campaign ‘Give the gift of solidarity’. Employees from all locations collected money to donate ‘PowerHouses’ to their colleagues in Ukraine. Due to the systematic destruction of the energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine, electricity is only available for a short period of time. With these large mobile charging batteries, electrical devices can be charged and thus contribute to a certain degree of security.

The association Brücke was founded by 11 German and Ukrainian committed members who have set themselves the goal of delivering urgently needed medical aid quickly and effectively to Ukrainian clinics in the crisis areas.

All donated funds are spent 1:1 on the purchase of the necessary equipment: Medicines, bandages, wheelchairs, electrocardiographs, defibrillators, stretchers, generators and much more. The donations have already financed two ambulances, among other things.

IRU calls on EC to ease Ukraine border jams

Posted on 25 November, 2022 by Keith McKinley

IRU and its member associations from Ukraine and seven neighbouring countries have called on the European Commission to prioritise TIR trucks to ease lengthy border queues and boost goods transport flows between Ukraine and the EU.

Truck queues at borders between Ukraine and neighbouring European countries are regularly exceeding 40km.

Aside from putting enormous pressure on drivers who can remain stuck for days, often without basic facilities, and stretched border and customs staff, the jams are severely restricting the flow of goods across borders between Ukraine and the EU, especially agricultural products.

The IRU and its national member associations from Hungary, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine have written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, asking for priority border crossing lanes for secure TIR trucks entering the EU to be coordinated with member states and established as a matter of urgency.

IRU: prioritise TIR traffic

IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto said: “By prioritising TIR traffic, the number of trucks that could transport freight from Ukraine to the EU can be increased two- to three-fold. This would make a huge difference to goods flows between war-ravaged Ukraine and the rest of the EU, as well as ease the burden on stretched drivers and border and customs workers.”

Customs inspects and security seals TIR transports at the point of departure, and they only reinspected by customs at the final destination. Together with electronic TIR and customs declaration information sent in advance, TIR trucks can cross borders without additional inspections while at the same time enhancing border authorities’ risk and resource management. TIR priority lanes should also manage sanitary, phytosanitary and other controls.

All EU member states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova and other Balkan countries, are parties to the UN TIR Convention. Thousands of transport operators in these countries are authorised users of TIR and use the system on a daily basis, despite the current absence of priority lanes for TIR trucks.

iru.org

Clark sends baby food to Ukraine

Posted on 26 July, 202225 July, 2025 by David Priestman

In a joint aid campaign, Clark Material Handling International, Korea, Clark Material Handling Company, USA and Clark Europe, Germany donated baby food worth a total of €100,000 to Ukraine. This donation campaign was organised by the Korean parent company YoungAn and the Clark Europe headquarters in Duisburg. With this donation in kind, the Clark Family wants to ensure that the aid is not only quickly available on site, but also arrives where it is most urgently needed.

Clark Europe put together the relief supplies and organised the transport in cooperation with Rullko Großeinkauf GmbH & Co. KG, a wholesaler and food supplier for community catering and gastronomy based in Hamm. On 23 June 2022, a lorry with a total of 33 pallets of baby food – around 42,650 items – set off from Hamm for Slovakia. From there, the food was taken to Ukraine.

To ensure that this went smoothly, the Korean YoungAN established contact with the National Olympic Committee (NOC). The Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee, in cooperation with Malteser Hilfswerk, took care of the distribution of the relief supplies to the affected families in Ukraine.

Rolf Eiten, President & CEO Clark Europe, said: “The ongoing war in Ukraine is causing untold suffering for the local population. We at Clark are very happy to be able to make a contribution to supporting the Ukrainian families with our food donation. However, we would like nothing more urgently than to see a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine as soon as possible.”

Putin’s War’ already significantly impacting international trade

Posted on 1 March, 2022 by Keith McKinley

ParcelHero says ‘Putin’s War’ is already having an impact on costs, supply chains and international trade that goes far beyond the borders of Ukraine and Russia.

The international delivery expert ParcelHero says freight transport services to Ukraine are at a virtual stop, and many services to Russia have been suspended. It warns the costs of the conflict will impact on UK companies, even if they have no business in Eastern Europe.

ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘”Putin’s War” as it is being called in Europe, will certainly harm both Russia and the Ukraine economically, but its impact is also already being felt by UK businesses.

“The invasion has had an immediate economic impact on Russia, which doubled its interest rate to 20% on Monday after the rouble sank by as much as 30%, before settling back down to 20%. However, UK international businesses, both large and small, are also counting the cost.

“Most international parcel operators suspended services to the Ukraine from 24 February and major couriers such as UPS, FedEx and TNT have also suspended international services to Russia. Most couriers are now returning items already in transit to the sender where possible.

“Logistics companies such as DHL and DSV have all asked their Ukrainian employees to stay at home with their families and follow instructions from local authorities.

“Ukraine is an important air corridor for European air traffic and re-routings will lead to a – hopefully short-term – loss in capacity.

“Shipments of goods by sea are also being impacted. There are no services into Ukraine’s key port, Odessa, and Ukraine says two foreign-owned commercial ships have been shelled there by Russian forces. Surface shipments are being re-routed via Romania, Lebanon and Greece.

“The container line Ocean Network Express (ONE) has now suspended container bookings to and from Russia, hours after Maersk said it was considering doing the same.

Most major Europe-Asia rail freight services (some 95%) don’t pass through Ukraine. Direct freight trains are entering Ukraine through its border with Poland, but these are largely war supplies.

“It’s not just physical goods sales to Russia that are being impacted. British, EU and US companies operating electronic services in Russia are seeing payments to them frozen after these countries removed selected Russian banks from the Swift messaging network and froze the assets of Russia’s central bank. Bank cards issued by VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, and Otkritie are no longer working for Russian customers trying to pay for things such as Netflix subscriptions, or access pay services from Apple and Google.

“E-commerce has also been impacted. Etsy is waiving all fees owed by Ukrainian sellers, a sum of approximately $4 million, and eBay.com has announced it has suspended its Global Shipping Program service into Ukraine and Russia.

“Looking beyond the immediate logistical problems for deliveries, it is likely UK businesses will see an increase in costs because of a rise in diesel and petrol prices. Even though the UK is nowhere near as dependent on Russia for oil and gas as the EU, increased demand is pushing up prices everywhere. For example, diesel is now at 154.72p per litre, says the RAC.

“Food retailers are likely to see an increase in prices. The Russia-Ukraine plains were once called “the breadbasket of Europe”. The area exports about a quarter of the world’s wheat and half of its sunflower products, such as seeds and oil. In addition, Ukraine sells a lot of corn globally. Some analysts are predicting a doubling of global wheat prices.

“Ukraine has a very large heavy-industry base and is one of the largest refiners of metallurgical products in Eastern Europe. It’s also well-known for its production of high-tech goods and transport products, such as aircraft.

“There are five industries where the share of Russian exports to the EU is significant: textiles, pharmaceuticals, electrical equipment, machinery and transport equipment. Supply chains and costs could be impacted in all these sectors.

“UK car manufacturers such as Jaguar-Land Rover have halted all deliveries to Russia, while Mini has had to suspend production for five days because of the “ongoing parts supply situation, now including the conflict in Ukraine”.

“How much could all this cost UK businesses? It’s too early to tell but, during the far smaller Ukraine conflict of 2014, a report by the Vienna Institute of International Economic Studies said Germany lost around £2.51bn (€3bn), followed by Italy, which lost around £1.17bn (€1.4bn). France, Great Britain and Poland each lost around £0.67bn (€0.8bn). The current conflict is on a far larger scale and the economic sanctions imposed on Russia are far more severe, so expect these numbers to be the tip of the iceberg.”

In common with all other UK international courier service providers, ParcelHero has currently suspended booking services to Ukraine. You can find out the latest information on all international mailings on its international courier services page and by entering your destination into its live quote comparison tool.

Ongoing support for Ukraine

IRU: prioritise TIR traffic

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