Moldova restores container rail transportation through the Port of Giurgiulești

The State Enterprise “Railway of Moldova” has restored container rail transportation through the Giurgiulești International Free Port, carrying out the first operation involving the transshipment of containers between tracks of different gauges.

The Institute of Danube Research reports this with reference to CFM.

The first service was carried out on the Constanța — Giurgiulești — Chișinău route. Eight containers, each weighing 44 tonnes, were delivered from the Romanian port of Constanța to Giurgiulești on narrow-gauge track. Directly at the port, they were transshipped onto broad-gauge platforms and a train was formed for onward transportation to Chișinău.

The restoration of container transportation through Giurgiulești is important for Moldova’s logistics system, as it enables larger batches of cargo to be transported in a single service, reduces logistics costs, shortens delivery times and improves the predictability of supplies. The transfer of part of the freight flow from road transport to rail is also significant, as it reduces pressure on road infrastructure and contributes to lower emissions.

The Port of Giurgiulești remains Moldova’s only port with access to the Danube and, further, to the Black Sea. Its role has strengthened amid the reorientation of regional freight flows, the development of the Danube transport corridor and the growing importance of multimodal logistics between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine.

It should be recalled that in April the Romanian state-owned company “Constanța Maritime Ports Administration” completed the transaction to acquire the operator of the Giurgiulești International Port. At the same time, the Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea, which owns 20% of the shares in the Constanța Maritime Ports Administration, continues its legal challenge against this acquisition.

Comment by the Institute of Danube Research

Experts of the Institute of Danube Research note that the restoration of container rail transportation through Giurgiulești is not only a technical development for Moldova, but also an important signal for the entire Danube–Black Sea logistics area.

“Giurgiulești is gradually becoming one of the key nodes of regional multimodal logistics. The very fact that containers are transshipped between tracks of different gauges directly at the port demonstrates that Moldova is developing a practical model for integrating Danube, maritime and rail transport,” the IDR emphasised.

This process is also of direct relevance to Ukraine, as the development of Giurgiulești, Constanța and Ukrainian Danube ports is shaping a new configuration of freight routes in the Lower Danube region.

After 2022, the Danube ceased to be a peripheral direction and became a strategic transport corridor. The strengthening of container logistics in Moldova creates both new opportunities for regional cooperation and additional competition for freight flows. Therefore, Ukrainian Danube ports need to accelerate modernisation, develop railway approaches, digitalise procedures and build joint logistics solutions with partners.

The Institute emphasises that the future competitiveness of the Danube route will depend not only on individual port capacities, but also on the ability of the countries of the region to create a coordinated transportation system: port — railway — road logistics — customs and border procedures.

The development of container transportation through Giurgiulești may become one of the factors strengthening Moldova’s transport resilience and, at the same time, an incentive for deeper coordination between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine within the Danube transport corridor.