English
Français
After the beginning of the War against Ukraine, the Coordination Centre for Food Aid to Ukraine (German: Koordinierungsstelle für Lebensmittelhilfen der Ernährungswirtschaft in die Ukraine or KoSt) was established in the beginning of March 2022 to provide food to the people in need. Under the logo German Food Bridge, AFC coordinates food donations from mostly German retailers, producers and other organizations. Embedded into the bilateral cooperation project Agritrade Ukraine financed by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the KoSt is based in offices provided by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.
From there, the project team continuously collaborates with retailers, producers and other initiatives, which are willing to donate food to Ukraine. As of 27th July 2022, 66 organizations made available 391 truckloads with 11.198 pallets of non-perishable, quickly consumable food products, including beverages, canned food and bread. Organizations that already have donated comprise a range of different types, from multinational companies, to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), local farmers and other initiatives.
Since most donors do not have their own fleet of trucks for transportation, the KoSt, in cooperation with the logistics provider TRANSA/DB Cargo, organizes the transport of goods to Polish transfer warehouses (hubs) free of charge. The Polish Governmental Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS) operates a number of these hubs, from which the emergency aid gets transported via rail into Ukraine.
In April 2022, the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Ukraine) and the Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Poland) jointly initiated another hub in the Polish city of Dębica. From this warehouse, which on 9th June 2022 was visited by the German Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) pick up the products and deliver them to recipients in need of assistance. The KoSt cooperates with 50 NGOs, which already have conducted over 100 deliveries to particularly affected cities, such as Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Irpin, and Bucha.
Companies, organizations and other associations who are interested to provide food aid to the people in Ukraine, please contact the KoSt via e-mail (info [at] lebensmittelhilfe-ukraine.de) or phone (+49 30 / 57 71 07 99-0). Thank you for your kind contribution in advance!
If you would like to learn more about the German Food Bridge, please visit its website and contact our Team Leader André Pilling (andre.pilling [at] afci.de), our project manager Berthold Averweg (berthold.averweg [at] afci.de) or our logistic expert Alexander Lotz (alexander.lotz [at] afci.de).