Agri-biomass imports to Poland — ports, wagons, TIR, containers

Logistics is not an add-on to a biomass contract — it accounts for 18 to as much as 45 per cent of the loco-boiler price. A buyer who looks only at the FCA supplier-warehouse or FOB port-of-loading price ends up with a bill significantly higher than a competitor who thinks in DAP loco-plant terms from the very first conversation. At BGT — continuing twenty years of trading activity in biomass imports to Poland — we plan this line item together with the client before we even sign the product specification.

In practice this means choosing between four transport families: sea in containers or in bulk, broad-gauge rail from Kazakhstan via Sławków, road transport (TIR / walking-floor) from Ukraine and the Balkans, and pneumatic tankers for bulk wood pellet. Each route has a different lead time, a different unit cost and different documentation requirements — and which one pays off depends on the buyer's scale, the available unloading infrastructure and the type of biomass.

Below we break these routes down into their component parts. No fluff, with numbers — the kind we see in contracts executed in the 2025/2026 season. This post is aimed at procurement departments in heating plants, CHP plants and biomass-fired facilities looking for the answer to a single question: when does each mode of transport make sense.

Main biomass import routes into Poland

The energy biomass market in Poland is import-driven by definition — domestic supply of woodchip, straw and wood pellet covers only part of the demand from licensed RES units. The rest arrives by sea, comes in by rail or drives in on TIRs. The four main directions we handle:

• Sea — the Tri-City ports and Szczecin-Świnoujście. Containers of PKS (Indonesia, Malaysia), olive stone and sunflower pellet from Turkey and Greece, bulk wood pellet in chartered vessels from South America and the Baltic.
• Broad-gauge rail — Kazakhstan via Sławków (LHS). Wood and sunflower pellet from Kazakh plants, loaded in 1520 mm wagons and unloaded without transhipment in Sławków.
• Standard-gauge rail — Ukraine via Medyka / Dorohusk. Agri-biomass, sunflower pellet, sunflower husk — transhipped at the border from broad gauge to standard gauge.
• TIR walking-floor — Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey overland. A flexible option for deliveries in 24-27 t lots, particularly for mid-sized heating plants without a rail siding.

The choice of route is rarely an either-or decision. In large annual contracts (30,000–80,000 t) we typically mix two or three channels to safeguard supply continuity against a port closure, a border embargo or a peak transport period that pushes road rates up.

Transport modes and their applications

Every mode of transport has its sweet spot — a cargo for which it is optimal on cost and logistics. The table below is a summary of our practical recommendations for each biomass type.

Transport mode	Capacity / payload	Typical application	Key advantage
20ft container	24–26 t	PKS from Asia, olive stone in bulk or big bag	Versatility, low entry barrier for the buyer
40ft HC container	26–28 t	Light agri-biomass in big bag, bagged pellet	Better cubage for light products
Eas / Falns wagon (standard gauge)	55–65 t	Biomass from Ukraine after transhipment in Medyka	Large unit volume, lower cost per tonne-km
Broad-gauge wagon 1520 mm	60–70 t	Wood pellet from Kazakhstan to Sławków	No border transhipment, shorter lead time
Walking-floor 90 m³	24–27 t	Bulk agri-biomass — sunflower pellet, PKS, olive stone	Flexibility, fast pneumatic unloading at the boiler house
Pneumatic tanker	24–28 t	Bulk A1/A2 wood pellet	Direct loading into the client's silo

The 20/40ft container is the dominant mode for PKS and other products from South-East Asia. The buyer receives fully sealed cargo — the container at the destination port can be held until needed, and ocean rates in 2025/2026 are predictable (unlike in 2021–2022). Terminal slot, THC and drayage from port to plant are priced in up front.

Rail is about scale. Below 25,000 t per year from a single source, rail rarely pays off — the cost of maintaining a standing transport contract and the minimum rail lot sizes only make this channel rational for large CHP plants or buying groups. In the case of Kazakhstan via Sławków (the LHS line), border transhipment is avoided, which shortens the timeline and reduces the risk of cargo damage.

The walking-floor 90 m³ is our bread and butter in agri deliveries within PL and from neighbouring markets (Ukraine, Slovakia, Lithuania). Unloading at the buyer's site takes 30–45 minutes; the vehicle discharges the cargo itself — no forklift, no ramp. For a heating plant without a rail siding, it is often the only sensible option.

The pneumatic tanker is dedicated to bulk wood pellet — loaded straight into the client's silo. Losses on transfer are practically zero, but it requires infrastructure on the buyer's side.

Polish ports and their specialisations

Not every port does the same thing. Below is what emerges from our practice — not from port brochures.

• Gdynia (BCT, GCT) — dominant in container handling. For PKS and olive stone from container imports, it is number one for service frequency and slot availability. Drayage to central and southern Poland via the A1.
• Gdańsk (DCT / Baltic Hub) — the largest deep-water terminal on the Baltic. Large vessels from Asia berth here directly, without transhipment in Rotterdam/Hamburg. That cuts 5–10 days off the lead time on contracts from Indonesia.
• Szczecin-Świnoujście — general-cargo ports handling bulk vessels (bulk pellet, woodchip) as well as containers. The natural hinterland for buyers in western and south-western Poland.
• Gdynia BCT (chartered vessels) — for bulk cargo (wood pellet, woodchip) in vessels of 3,000–20,000 t. Requires organised storage and onward transport.

River ports (e.g. Wrocław, Kędzierzyn-Koźle) play no meaningful role in biomass imports today — the Oder is often non-navigable, and the cost of transhipment eats up any saving.

Rail terminals for transhipment

Two key points on the map:

• Sławków (Euroterminal Sławków) — the end station of the broad-gauge LHS line running from Ukraine and Kazakhstan into central Poland without a change of gauge. For wood pellet from Kazakhstan this is the shortest route: loading in 1520 mm wagons, unloading in Sławków, then TIR to the customer. No transhipment = lower risk of loss and moisture uptake.
• Małaszewicze / Terespol — Poland's largest transhipment hub on the Belarusian border. Historically key for rail from China and Kazakhstan; its role shifted after 2022. Handles mainly containers from China.
• Medyka / Żurawica (Ukrainian border) — the transhipment point for biomass from Ukraine. Cargo is transferred from 1520 mm broad gauge to 1435 mm standard gauge. The operation adds 3–7 days to the lead time and raises the cost by a few per cent.

Logistics costs — share of the loco-plant price

On CIF PL port terms, sea freight accounts for 10–18% of the cargo value for PKS from Asia, and up to 25% for low-value volumes such as sunflower husk. The next legs — from port to plant gate — typically add another 8–15%. For road deliveries from Ukraine, logistics can represent 20–30% of the DAP price depending on distance.

Channel	Distance / route	Logistics share of DAP price (typical)
Container from Indonesia to central PL	approx. 18,000 km + drayage	25–35%
Wagon Kazakhstan → Sławków → TIR	approx. 5,500 km + 300 km TIR	22–30%
Walking-floor Ukraine → western PL	700–1,200 km	15–22%
Walking-floor Turkey → PL	approx. 2,200 km	25–32%
Chartered vessel + domestic rail	PL port + 300 km	12–18%

These are indicative ranges from the 2025/2026 season. In peak periods (harvest in Ukraine, January–February in the freight market) the upper bound can be exceeded by several percentage points.

Lead time — from contract to delivery

Delivery times vary drastically between channels. Key piece of advice for large buyers: book volumes for the heating season by April-May at the latest, not in September when the panic starts and rates go up.

• Container from Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia) — 55–85 days from contract signing to delivery at the plant. That includes booking, loading, sailing time, port handling and drayage.
• Container from Turkey / Greece — 20–35 days.
• Wagon from Kazakhstan via Sławków — 30–45 days when wagons are available; up to 60 days at peak.
• Walking-floor from Ukraine — 5–14 days after contract signing and clearance of border documents.
• Walking-floor from the Balkans / Turkey overland — 10–20 days.
• Chartered vessel — 45–75 days owing to vessel fixing.

KZR certification and the choice of supplier and logistics

Since 2023, RES generating units using support schemes must document the sustainable origin of their biomass. The KZR INiG certificate (or an equivalent such as SURE, ISCC EU for biomass) is not a formality — it is a filter across the entire supply chain.

In practice this means:

• The supplier must hold a KZR certificate and issue declarations of conformity for every lot — with specific certificate numbers, weights and dates.
• Chain of custody must be preserved at every transport stage — a container or wagon cannot be a mixed load with non-certified cargo.
• Transhipment terminals (Sławków, Medyka, ports) must be able to segregate KZR and non-KZR cargo if they handle both.

For an industrial buyer this is one more selection filter: a supplier may offer an excellent price, but without KZR you cannot buy. Every BGT heating-season contract is executed as standard with full KZR documentation — audited every year.

Documentation requirements — what has to be in the pack

The standard document pack for biomass imported into PL is:

• Certificate of Origin — country of production, issued by the chamber of commerce in the country of export.
• Commercial invoice + packing list — dimensions, weights, quantities, packaging data.
• KZR / SURE / ISCC declaration — chain of conformity, confirmation of sustainability criteria.
• MSDS (Safety Data Sheet) — key for PKS, pellets and wood dust.
• Phytosanitary certificates — for biomass of plant origin from third countries (outside the EU).
• Veterinary certificates — if the biomass contains components of animal origin (rarely, but it happens in blends).
• Bill of Lading / CMR / CIM waybill — depending on the mode of transport.
• Laboratory analysis results — calorific value, moisture, ash, chlorine, sulphur. Standard in BGT contracts.

Gaps in the documentation cause delays at customs clearance and can mean several days of wagon or container demurrage. The cost of storing a container in port after 5 days of demurrage can reach 80–120 EUR/day.

Matching the transport mode to the buyer's scale

BGT recommendations for three typical buyer profiles:

• Small yard / local heating plant (up to 3,000 t/year) — walking-floor or containers in big bag. Rail does not pay off due to the lack of a siding and the excessive unit lot size. A 20ft container with big bag can be unloaded with a forklift.
• Mid-sized heating plant (5,000–20,000 t/year) — walking-floor as the base, containers in bulk or big bag as a top-up. If a siding is available — single wagons as a "big shot" for the seasonal peak.
• Large CHP plant / co-firing (30,000–100,000 t/year) — a mix: chartered vessel + domestic rail as the backbone, walking-floor as a buffer. Full wagon sets (minimum 20–30 units) from Kazakhstan via Sławków for wood pellet. Multi-channel sourcing is a condition of continuity.

One last piece of advice: never start negotiations from the freight rate. Start from DAP loco-plant, because that is the only number that matters for your boiler-house bill.

FAQ

Is it worth importing biomass by rail from Kazakhstan directly, without an intermediary? In theory yes — in practice it requires your own transport contract with LHS, wagon guarantees, customs handling and warehousing at Sławków. For volumes below 15,000–20,000 t per year, an intermediary with an established channel comes out cheaper and faster.

How much does container demurrage cost in a PL port? The free period is usually 5–7 days from vessel discharge. Then 40–80 EUR/day for a 20ft container, 60–120 EUR/day for a 40ft. Detention (outside the port) is charged separately.

Does a 90 m³ walking-floor always carry 24–27 t of biomass? It depends on bulk density. Sunflower pellet at 550–620 kg/m³ loads to 25–27 t. PKS at 500–550 kg/m³ loads to 22–24 t. Sunflower husk at around 100 kg/m³ will not fill the payload — there the limit is cubage, not tonnage.

How long does transhipment from broad to standard gauge in Medyka take? For a lot of 20–30 wagons, typically 3–5 working days. At peak (harvest, year-end) up to 7–10 days. That has to be built into lead time and cash flow.

Does BGT supply only large CHP plants, or smaller buyers as well? We handle deliveries from single walking-floor loads (24 t) up to chartered vessels (tens of thousands of tonnes). For smaller buyers the typical model is a seasonal contract with a monthly delivery schedule.

How does KZR documentation work for container deliveries from mixed sources? We do not combine KZR and non-KZR cargo in a single container. The container is either certified in full or non-certified in full. Segregation happens at the loading stage in the export port.

Summary

Biomass logistics is not "shipping to the plant" — it accounts for 15 to 35% of the loco-boiler price, and with the wrong channel choice it can eat the margin on an energy project. Four rules we repeat to clients:

1. Plan multi-channel — one supplier, one source, one mode of transport is a recipe for a supply break at the worst moment of the season.
2. Book early — especially rail from Kazakhstan and containers from Asia. April-May is the last sensible moment to lock in heating-season deliveries.
3. Compare on DAP, not FOB — only the loco-plant price is comparable across offers.
4. Demand complete KZR documentation at the offer stage, not at delivery.

BGT delivers by walking-floor, rail and container to every type of industrial buyer in Poland. We will gladly prepare a DAP calculation from a specific source for you — just give us the volume, the location and the biomass type you need.