One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, Nibulon JV LLC (Mykolaiv), will change its elevator management model to optimize resource use and create an effective management system, the agricultural holding’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, in 2024, Nibulon’s 22 elevators will be organized into six groups:
– Mykolaiv: the largest group, which includes the Transshipment Terminal, Kolosivsky Elevator, Vradiyivsky Elevator, Novoodesskyi and Voznesenskyi branches;
– Kremenchuk: Kremenchuk, Globinsk and Hradyzk branches;
– Poltava region: Romodan, Reshetylivka, Skorokhodiv, and Maryanivka branches;
– Cherkasy: Zolotonosha, Pereyaslav, Vitove branches;
– Zakhidna: currently unites the Teteriv, Smotrych, and Denikhiv branches, and will be joined by Khmilnyk after the expansion of storage capacity and installation of a dryer scheduled for fall 2024;
– Zaporizhzhia-Dnipro: Ternivska, Khortytsia and Zelenodolska branches.
The only branch that will continue to operate independently is Bessarabian, as it is located at a great distance from all other elevator groups and is focused on grain transshipment rather than storage and processing.
Each group will now have a unified administration, which will include a director, chief accountant and technical staff: chief engineer and chief power engineer. It will also be serviced by a service team responsible for scheduled and overhaul repairs at branches.
Each group of elevators will be assigned a shift team consisting of grain handling operators and other specialists who will assist the branches during the busiest periods of operation.
The department plans to automate all elevators, equip them with sensors that will record the equipment’s service life and automatically transfer this data to a single service center. The center will be staffed by dispatchers who will be responsible for monitoring the operation of all elevators’ equipment.
“As a result, we expect to increase the efficiency of the elevator business through optimization and automation, reduce the cost of services through the rational use of resources and increase salaries for branch teams by 30-40%,” Nibulon summarized.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, a one-time storage capacity of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
