DB Schenker: making sure the huge international readiness to help reaches the people in Ukraine
DB Cargo and DB Schenker have started rail bridge operations to transport relief goods to Ukraine.
On Friday night, a first train carrying relief goods for the people of Ukraine started at the Seddin marshalling yard near Berlin. The train was loaded with 15 containers. The cargo includes sleeping bags, sleeping mats, diapers, canned food, drinking water, warm clothing and baby food, as well as medical products such as syringes, plasters, gauze bandages and cannulas. In this way, a total of 350 tons of relief supplies will be brought to Ukraine.
“The rail provides a stable connection to Ukraine. Today we are starting to help quickly – with what is needed most. A stable connection and experience in logistics processes are important here so that we can help reliably,” says Dr. Sigrid Nikutta, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Bahn Group for freight transport and head of DB Cargo.
Jochen Thewes, Chairman of the Board of Management of DB Schenker: “Logistics gets things to where they are needed, especially in times of crisis. With our rail bridge, we’re making sure that the huge international readiness to help reaches the people in Ukraine.”
For its Ukraine aid, Deutsche Bahn has set up a logistics network on rail and road to transport aid supplies from Germany directly to Ukraine. This will enable thousands of tons of food, drinking water and sanitary items to be transported directly to the country by truck and by rail in the coming weeks.
The logistics teams of DB Cargo and DB Schenker are working hand in hand here: donations are collected by truck in Germany, packed into containers and finally transported across the border to Ukraine by freight train on DB Cargo’s European rail network. This is made possible thanks to a cooperation between the Polish subsidiary of DB Cargo and the Ukrainian railroad as well as the
DB Schenker teams on site in Poland.
DB Group has set up a dedicated hotline for the rail bridge to Ukraine. Here, freight can be registered and its pick-up coordinated, especially for companies and large donations. The transport is free of charge for donors until further notice. The hotline is staffed on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Phone number: 030-720 220 640, mail address: [email protected]
Deutsche Bahn’s logistics network can also accept individual donations. For this purpose, collection points have been opened at three different Schenker branches in Germany to accept humanitarian aid supplies that are currently particularly needed in Ukraine. Volunteers from the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) are providing on-site support in Cologne, Hannover and Munich to sort the items and professionally pack them for container transport.
