A modern container terminal could be built in the port of Mariupol (Donetsk region) on the territory of the former coal-loading complex, Ihor Barsky, the head of Mariupol seaport.
“In the long term, we have a dream: to turn the territory of the former coal loading complex of the seaport into a modern container terminal,” he said during the NewPort international exhibition in Kyiv.
Barsky recalled that since 2015, the container flow in the Sea of Azov has been completely stopped. Container lines stopped making calls to Azov after the imposition of European and American sanctions on Crimea.
“Now we are working to return container traffic to Azov. We are supported in this issue by the city, the region, the Ministry of Infrastructure. This is a difficult task, but solvable,” he said.
According to him, at present the port has pre-design studies of this terminal, in the future a feasibility study will be ordered.
“Now we are liquidating the loading complex, selling the equipment that is there, and preparing this serious investment site. How much it will cost – I can’t say yet. We can talk about this when the feasibility study is completed,” Barsky summed up.
TIS container terminal (Odesa region) in January-September 2018 increased its cargo turnover by 54% compared to the same period in 2017, to 78,200 TEU, the company has said. “This is the result … of investment in the amount of $52 million in the installation of two new STS cranes, the launch of weekly container trains to Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Ternopil, increasing berth 22 to 600 meters,” the company notes.
TIS added that the launch of new Maersk ME-3 service and the high processing speed of 5 STS re-loaders also contributed to the rapid growth in container handling. The TIS group of terminals is the largest stevedoring operator in Ukraine. Cargo turnover in 2017 amounted to 26.012 million tonnes. The depth of berths near the terminals ranges from 15 to 16 meters, the total length of the eight berths of TIS exceeds 1,800 meters with the prospect of expansion by another 1,500 meters.
