Cargo transshipment in the seaports of Ukraine for the first time in 11 years has reached 150 million tonnes, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy has said.
“This volume was before the crisis in 2008 … These are not only the achievements of manufacturers, carriers, stevedores and port workers – this is a new challenge for the entire industry. Transport infrastructure must be ready to cope with new loads, and we already see bottlenecks in logistics and are working to eliminate them,” he said on Facebook.
According to him, three quarters (75%) of this amount is exported by Ukrainian enterprises, import amounts to 16%, transit to 7%. At the same time, the lion’s share of transshipment is products of the agro-industrial complex (41%) and mining industry (23%, ore).
According to the press service of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in January-November 2019 Ukraine’s seaports handled 144.3 million tonnes of cargo, which is 18.8% more than in the same period in 2018. The volume of grain transshipment for the 11 months amounted to 48.8 million tonnes, and ore to 33.6 million tonnes.
In addition, the growth trend in container handling remains: in January-November 2019 nearly 911,000 TEU were already loaded, while for the whole of 2018 some 846,000 TEU were handled.
The ports handled more than 108.6 million tonnes for export, while 23.7 million tonnes were transferred for import, transit traffic amounted to 10.2 million tonnes.
Electricity production by all power plants of state enterprise Energoatom in January-November 2019 decreased by 2.2% (by 1.656 billion kWh) compared to the same period of the previous year, to 74.889 billion kWh.
According to the press service of the company, the plan for the production of electricity for the specified period in 2019 was overfulfilled by 1.4%.
The share of Energoatom in the overall structure of electricity production in the country amounted to 53.6%, which is 0.2 percentage points more than in January-November 2018.
The power plants of the state enterprise for the reporting period supplied 70.34 billion kWh, which is 2.3% less than a year earlier.
The volume of capital investments for the 11 months amounted to UAH 12.094 billion against UAH 10.069 billion. in January-November 2019, financing of capital investments totaled UAH 12.957 billion against UAH 10.798 billion.
During the reporting period, the company transferred UAH 12.328 billion to the budgets of all levels, insurance payments amounted to UAH 2.343 billion.
Some 12 violations were recorded in the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants for the 11 months of 2019 against 20 violations for the 11 months of 2018.
Ascania-Pack, part of the multi-profile Ukrainian holding Ascania, in January-November 2019 reduced production and export of honey by 20% compared to the same period last year, to 5,200 tonnes due to export of packaged honey and the uncertainty of prices, development director of Ascania-Pack Viktor Ivanchenko has said.
“For 11 months of 2018, the company exported and actually produced 6,500 tonnes of honey, for the same period in 2019 some 5,200 tonnes. The reduction in volumes was due to uncertain prices and export prospects in the second half of the year. We did not know whether the price will grow or fall, but we didn’t want to play roulette. In addition, we focused on export of packaged honey. From the point of view of added value, this is much more interesting,” he said.
Ivanchenko noted that over the 11 months of this year, Ascania-Pack exported three times more packaged honey compared to the entire last year and plans to increase these volumes both in the domestic and foreign markets.
“We have determined for ourselves the volume of bulk exports, which is sufficient for us. Now we focus on the sale of packaged honey in the domestic market and on export. Today we export more packaged honey than we sell in the domestic market. This year we we’ll export about 130 tonnes of packaged honey. But we would like the share of packaged honey to be at least 25%, and then 50% of the total production,” he said.
Ascania-Pack supplies packaged honey to 14 countries in Europe, Asia, the United States, and Canada and is constantly working on expanding its export geography. In addition, the company received Halal certificate in 2018 and plans to receive Kosher next year.
Chornomorsk seaport (Odesa region) in January-November 2019 increased cargo transshipment by 21.8% compared to the same period in 2018, to 23.572 million tonnes.
According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, during this period Chornomorsk port increased transshipment of exported cargo by 22.4%, to 18.061 million tonnes, imported goods by 16.2%, to 4.4 million tonnes, transit cargo by 20.6%, to 933,710 tonnes, and also significantly increased transshipment of cabotage freight, by 4.1 times, to 200,570 tonnes.
Transshipment of liquid cargo in the port in January-November increased by 7.2%, to 1.510 million tonnes, dry bulk cargo by 23.9%, to 16.238 million tonnes, packaged goods by 20.6%, to 5.823 million tonnes.
Transshipment of containers amounted to 125,078 TEU (an increase of 11.2%).
As reported, the volume of transshipment at the port in 2018 rose by 25.02% compared to 2017, to 21.54 million tonnes.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has congratulated British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his election victory.
“I sincerely congratulate Boris Johnson on his victory! In this key period for Great Britain, we want the well-being of our British friends and allies. I’m ready to work together for the benefit of our peoples, as well as peace and prosperity in Europe,” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
Earlier, the results of polls conducted at the exits from polling stations showed that the ruling Conservative Party of Great Britain was able to secure a majority in the House of Commons following the election results.
The European Union has launched a project entitled “Support to Ukraine for Developing a Modern Public Health System” on December 12, the Public Health Center (PHC) reported. The project will help the government to implement public health reform in line with its obligations under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, reads the statement on the website of the PHC.
The experts will consult the Health Ministry of Ukraine, the PHC and the regional public health centers, help to draw up laws and regulations, analyze and implement the EU practices.
According to the statement, the project is aimed at streamlining the public health system in Ukraine with the EU practices, creating a sustainable epidemiology surveillance system to control contagious and non-contagious diseases and introducing the International Health Regulations to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease.
In addition, the project will provide support for reform of the blood donation service in Ukraine via the development of a modern blood safety system in line with the EU standards. The project will also help to improve the quality control system, create donor registers and unified standards for blood transfusion, promote voluntary blood donation and establish an independent competent agency in the sphere of blood safety.
The EU project “Support to Ukraine for Developing a Modern Public Health System” will be implemented from 2019 until 2022 by the GFA Consulting Group GmbH (GFA) in consortium with the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland (THL). The budget of the project is EUR 3 million.
