KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the financial plan of state enterprise Energoatom (Kyiv) for 2015 with a projected net profit of UAH 1.2 billion.
“[The enterprise will make a] UAH 1.2 billion net profit after two years of losses,” Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn said after a cabinet meeting.
He added that, according to the financial plan, Energoatom in 2015 will pay UAH 6 billion in various taxes to the budget.
As reported, Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates 15 units equipped with VVER reactors with a total installed electrical capacity of 13.835 GW.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Twenty-two member states of the European Union have already completed the ratification of Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said,
“As of today, 22 EU member states have already ratified [the agreement]…This process has been completed in the legal aspect,” he said during a joint meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committees for European Integration and Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
Klimkin said that six EU countries are yet to complete ratification: the Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus, adding that the process is ongoing in the latter two countries.
According to Klimkin, the key political parties in Greece have promised Ukraine that the ratification process will be speeded up as soon as the upcoming elections in Greece are held, a position echoed by the Greek Foreign Ministry.
“As for Cyprus, the situation is connected with the parliament’s desire to see our final aspiration and devotion to this affair, to put amendments to the convention on evading double taxation. There is an essential lobby in the Cyprian parliament [on this issue]. Now this issue has been settled,” Klimkin said,
In addition, he said that on September 4-5 there will be an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss strengthening the influence of the EU in the Eastern Partnership countries.
Klimkin said that the foreign ministers will also discuss the strategic vision of the development of EU – Russian relations, as well as the ongoing process of reform in Ukraine.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Infrastructure Ministry plans to improve the procedure for collecting port dues at Ukrainian seaports, the press service of the ministry has reported.
The press service said that the draft order has been registered.
“The amendments defined in the document would promote an increase in the attractiveness and transparency of the functioning of Ukrainian seaports, and for port operators, ship owners and other companies operating at seaports this means the improvement of doing business conditions,” the report said.
Among changes proposed by the draft order is exemption from paying the canal duty for ships with a water draft of up to four meters which wish to use the Bug-Dnipro Estuary and Kherson sea canals, which would create economic preconditions for the reorientation of freight from roads to rivers, as well as an increase in volume of coastal shipments using inner water ways; the establishment of separate rates of the ship dues for port operators-owners of operational water areas as a mechanism of compensating the funds invested by them in the development of the seaport water area; the exemption from paying the port dues by anchored ships, which do not carry out freight operations.
It is also foreseen that the double accruing of port dues for ships that pass the port water area and the operational water area is not allowed; the requirements on port dues have been specified to avoid different interpretations, port dues discounts have been systematized (they were previously defined in separate orders), which would allow for making their collection more predictable and transparent; a discount of 50% to the port dues in the estuary and on the Danube River is set for international passenger cruisers.
The draft order also propose that the practice of collecting the administrative fee from foreign passenger cruisers with the purpose of servicing passengers-participants of the cruise would be settled, and that ships of the Ukrainian Navy are exempted from paying the fees, etc.
KYIV. Sept 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company AvtoKrAZ (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), the only Ukrainian producer of heavy trucks, as a part of adaptation of new engines for its trucks, has started mounting Ford-Ecotorq engines rated at 360 hp meeting Euro-5 emission standard to mass-produced trucks, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
The company said that the KrAZ-63221 mass-produced chassis intended for conversion into special vehicles are powered with the Ford-Ecotorq turbocharged engine.
Previously the engines made by this manufacturer were mounted on light armored vehicles as KrAZ-Spartan.
The Ford-Ecotorq 9.0L 360PS engines offering increased horsepower and displacement of 9 liters mounted on the KrAZ trucks are the most compact in their class.
The Ford-Ecotorq 9.0L 360PS engine features extended service life, increased horsepower and torque, reduced fuel and oil consumption, increased intervals between maintenance, quick start at extreme temperatures, direct fuel injection and the electronic control unit.
The company said that that since 2014 AvtoKrAZ has switched over to using engines made by manufacturers from European and CIS countries, sticking to import substitution policies.
“The monthly number of engines that KrAZ placed an order for at [Russia’s] YaMZ is compensated by engines made by Deutz, Cummins, Daimler, Fiat, WEICHAI, and Ford, Toyota,” the press service said.
The press service told Interfax-Ukraine that since 2015 AvtoKrAZ has stopped buying materials and spare parts from Russian manufacturers.
AvtoKrAZ now buys electrics in Poland and Belarus, bearings in Poland, Turkey and India, flat steel – in Poland and the Czech Republic, the company is working on supplies from China, metal goods are bought in Kryvy Rih, and Zaporizhstal almost covers supplies of Russia’s Novolipetsk steel works in full.
“All contracts were terminated under the initiative of Russia,” the press service said.
AvtoKrAZ makes 33 basic vehicle models, and more than 260 modifications and trim levels for civilian and military vehicles.
KYIV. Sept 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine on September 1 resumed exports of electricity to Poland as emergency assistance, the press service of NEC Ukrenergo has reported.
According to its data, exports are carried out on the basis of a tripartite agreement between PSE S.A., Energomarket and Ukrenergo for power transmission via the 220 kV Dobrotvirska TPP-Zamosc power grid.
At present, the line transmits 135 MW with a maximum technical capability of 235 MW.
“Providing emergency assistance for neighboring states is a common practice in European countries. Our specialists are ready to provide smooth and reliable transportation of energy to the brotherly country [of Poland],” Ukrenergo Acting Director Yuriy Kasich has said.
The company emphasized that the priority for Ukrenergo is ensuring a balanced and reliable unified energy system of Ukraine.
KYIV. Sept 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Public joint-stock company Kherson Shipyard, part of Smart Maritime Group (SMG), has finished building a ALTAIR tug of the Т2440 Project under the order of Кirgan Holding S.A. (Panama).
The press service of SMG reported that the new vessel was launched at the enterprise.
The tug was built under a contract to build two Т2440 Project tugs which was signed in November 2014 between SMG and Kirgan Holding S.A.
“At present, the second ANTARES tug is being built,” the company said.
Kherson Shipyard and Chornomorsky Shipbuilding Yard (Mykolaiv) are part of SMG, the shipbuilding holding founded in 2009 to manage the maritime assets of Smart-holding.
