How imports reach Ukraine: Gdańsk at the core, Constanța and Hamburg as alternatives

Under current circumstances, Ukraine's economy relies to a large extent on imports. Machinery, equipment and vehicles make up the largest share, alongside energy products, building materials, food and consumer goods. Much of this trade is with global markets, which makes seaports and sea freight essential within Ukraine's supply chains. Since traffic at the Greater Odesa ports has been restricted, container calls there remain limited. European ports have taken over a large share of the volume, with Gdańsk as the main gateway. At Rohlig SUUS Logistics we see this first-hand through our own subsidiary in Ukraine: Poland has become the key logistics hub for the Ukrainian market.

Construction drives a large part of the demand. In the first half of 2026 imports covered 43.8% of Ukraine's steel consumption, the highest share in more than three decades, according to GMK Center, as infrastructure, factories, warehouses and terminals are going up, mostly in the west of the country. Consumer demand is recovering as well: retail turnover rose by 9% in real terms in January–July, according to Ukraine's State Statistics Service, supporting imports of food and FMCG, as well as cars, more than 70% of them used. For logistics this means several models running side by side, from project cargo and oversized loads for energy and construction to palletised distribution for consumer goods.

Gdańsk as the sea gate for Ukrainian containers

Ukraine's trade with global markets, including goods from China, its largest supplier, increasingly runs through Polish ports. Baltic Hub in Gdańsk handles around 40% of the Ukrainian container market.

Gdańsk owes the position to its deep-water access. Baltic Hub, the port's container terminal, is the only one in the Baltic Sea that can receive the largest ocean-going container ships on direct services from Asia. Cargo from China can therefore reach Poland without transhipment in Hamburg or Rotterdam, which shortens transit times and removes one of the handling stages along the way. Rail lines run from the port to southern and eastern Poland and on to the border crossings with Ukraine, so containers can move from ship to train within the port area. Since November 2025 a regular intermodal rail service from the Baltic Hub terminal to Ukraine is active: containers are transferred to the LHS broad-gauge line in Zamość, and the whole journey takes about five days.

The land links from port to border

According to the European Commission, around 90% of Ukraine's imports moved via the EU's Solidarity Lanes in July 2026, largely through Polish road and rail crossings. From Gdańsk, combined sea–rail services reach terminals in western and central Ukraine, and rail keeps gaining ground.

The infrastructure behind this route is expanding on both sides of the border. On the Polish side, Sławków is the only terminal in the EU that can directly handle broad-gauge trains from Ukraine and Asia, via the LHS line. Euroterminal Sławków is building a second intermodal terminal that will nearly double its annual capacity, from 285,000 to 530,000 TEU.

In September 2025 Ukraine opened its first line in the European standard gauge, between Uzhhorod and Chop, and similar connections are planned to reach Lviv, Chernivtsi and Kovel in the coming years. Four TEN-T corridors have been extended to Ukraine, linking it to the core European transport network and opening access to EU funding. The 80-km Lviv–Mostyska line near the Polish border, co-financed by the EU and due for completion at the end of 2027, will allow direct rail transport without a change of gauge at the border.

These flows reflect the importance of Poland to Ukraine, as a logistics route and as a trading partner. Poland is Ukraine's second-largest supplier after China, with around 9.5% of its imports in January–July 2026, and Polish exports to Ukraine grew 13.4% year on year in the first half, faster than to any other of Poland's top-10 trading partners.

Constanța and Hamburg widen the choice

Gdańsk is the key sea gate for Ukraine, and other European ports complement it. Constanța is the main southern alternative, with road and Danube links to Ukraine, and as its transport infrastructure develops, Romania is becoming an important partner in Ukraine's trade and recovery. We operate there through our own Romanian subsidiary, so we can route cargo via the Black Sea when a shipment requires it. A surge in container volumes in recent months has congested the port and stretched customs clearance to 5–7 days from the usual 2–3, so some Ukraine-bound cargo is moving north to Poland.

Hamburg is one of Europe's largest container ports, with frequent deep-sea calls and dense rail links inland. It contributes to Ukrainian trade through intermodal rail, including services to the modernised Eurobridge terminal in Batiovo in western Ukraine, which opened in February 2026 at the junction of the European and broad-gauge networks.

At SUUS we choose the route for each shipment according to the type of cargo, the required transit time, cost and its destination in Ukraine, and use both of these ports alongside Gdańsk.

Ukraine's import needs are long-term

SUUS sees Ukraine’s long-term economic potential, which is why we launched our local subsidiary in Ukraine in Kyiv in May 2025, after years of handling cargo to and from Ukraine. Interest is growing among investors from Europe, Asia and the United States. At SUUS we combine sea freight with rail and road transport and customs clearance on both sides of the border, and our team in Ukraine takes routing and delivery decisions locally, close to the cargo and to our clients. For companies entering the market, a local logistics partner with its own operations and specialists who know local conditions lower the barriers to entry.