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.
State-owned enterprise (SOE) Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, COFCO Agri Resources Ukraine (the agricultural exporter), SOE Mariupol Maritime Merchandise Port and STT LLC signed a memorandum of cooperation to develop the Mariupol port during the RE:think. Invest in Ukraine forum, held in Mariupol on Tuesday.
Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority Head Raivis Veckagans, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy, Director of Mariupol Maritime Merchandise Port Oleksandr Oliynyk, COFCO Agri Resources Ukraine Director General Volodymyr Osadchuk and STT Head Volodymyr Sudeiko signed the document.
“The memorandum provides for the implementation of an infrastructure project in the port of Mariupol, which will ensure the attraction of a total of more than UAH 1.3 billion of investment in infrastructure development and increase cargo traffic by 2.3 million tonnes,” Krykliy said.
According to him, within the framework of this document, reconstruction of two berths, construction of the second stage of the grain terminal and the creation of a single transshipment complex of food and liquid food cargoes are also planned.
Veckagans said told Interfax-Ukraine that, in particular, within the framework of cooperation, an increase in the cargo flow of the Mariupol port in grain, meal and oil to 1.2 million tonnes is expected.
“Today, we see an increase in the agro-industrial business [in ports], which was smaller before and this leads to a better result. Business, for its part, and our customers are targeted for prospects and we must support this,” he said.
UDP Renewables has launched the Port Solar solar power plant with a capacity of 8.6 MW in Izmail, Odesa region.
According to the press service of the company, more than 25,700 solar panels manufactured by Jinko Solar (the largest global manufacturer of solar panels) are installed on an area of 16 hectares. It is expected that the plant will generate about 11,800 MWh of electricity annually.
The co-investor in the facility is Slovakia’s E-Group, the general contractor is the Metropolia Group of Companies (Kyiv).
“Involving the experience of our partners, UFuture and UDP Renewables are working to ensure that energy production in Ukraine complies with the best global environmental safety and energy efficiency practices. Our goal is more than 300 MW by 2022. Now we are following the plan, gradually implementing projects in the regions with the highest solar activity – Odesa, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions,” the press service said, citing the founder of the UFuture investment group Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
The company also reported that Ukrainian-built equipment worth over UAH 44.5 million was used in the construction of this plant. The total amount of attracted investments amounted to EUR 6.75 million.
UDP Renewables is an investment and development company in the field of renewable energy. It is part of the UFuture investment group, which belongs to Khmelnytsky.
E-Group is part of the INDUSTRY investments sub-fund that invests in energy. It belongs to the portfolio of the qualified investors fund ZMJ SICAV.
Over 46 companies from 11 countries participated in the investment conference seeking for the projects related to transferring of Olvia stevedoring company and Kherson maritime merchandise port into concession, Ukrainian Sea Port Authority (USPA) reported.
According to the USPA, apart from the participants of Ukraine, the companies from Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore, Great Britain, Denmark, United States, Qatar, Georgia and Germany attended the conference.
Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy and Chairman of Verkhovna Rada Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Yuriy Kysil have assured potential investors that all branches of power back implementation of the concession projects in the ports.
“Potential investors can expect that on a par with how they implement their projects in the port industry, the state will develop automobile and transport infrastructure. This will improve logistics throughout the country and load new capacities in the ports,” the report said.
According to USPA CEO Raivis Veckagans, tenders for pilot state stevedoring concession projects in Olvia stevedore and Kherson port open up new opportunities for the Ukrainian port industry to attract private investment in the development of port infrastructure, which have long been actively used in EU countries.
Required capital investment of both as estimated by international consultants amounts up to $65 million. These funds to be meant for modernization of existing port infrastructure, restoration of movable property in Kherson port, in Olvia the funds will be meant for reconstruction, modernization of existing facilities and construction of new port terminals.
This will increase the volume of transshipment of goods, revenues coming to the state and local budgets from the work of stevedores. Also, the cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson will receive mutual contributions from investors for the development of transport infrastructure related to the activities of ports.
The assets of the state stevedoring company in the Olvia stevedore to be transferred to the concession for a period of 35 years, and in the port of Kherson – for 30 years. At the same time, they will remain in state ownership and after the completion of concession agreements will be transferred to the state together with all the facilities in which the company invests, which will build or modernize them.
Nika-Tera sea terminal (Nika-Tera specialized seaport, Mykolaiv), part of Group DF belonging to Dmytro Firtash, in July 2019 handled 790,000 tonnes of cargo, which is two times more than in the same period of 2018, the company reported on its website.
According to the report, the major volume of cargo turnover at Nika-Tera accounted for grain and leguminous cargoes (73%), bulk cargoes ranked second (27%).
In July, the terminal handled 37 vessels transshipping and that was the highest indicator of this month since the beginning of the work of the terminal.
As reported, Nika-Tera handled 335 vessels transshipping, 5.84 million tonnes of freights in 2018, which is 40% more than in 2017.
Nika-Tera is a highly mechanized marine terminal, part of Group DF’s port business. The terminal includes four specialized complexes: grain, for transshipment of fertilizers, bulk freight, and liquid cargo.
Nibulon (Mykolaiv), one of the largest grain traders in Ukraine, intends to build a port in the village of Oleksandrivka (Kherson region) in five years, the company said in a statement.
“This port is a great prospect for the development of the entire Kherson region. This is an extremely difficult task and very large investments, but our company can do this only in five years,” CEO of the company Oleksiy Vadatursky said.
According to him, Nibulon continues the implementation of the investment program in Kherson region. There are already two transshipment terminals of the company in the village of Kozatske and Hola Prystan, while next year the company plans to increase the capacity of the Hola Prystan transshipment terminal by 20,000 tonnes, as well as to expand the capacity of this enterprise for accepting rice.
The company plans in the next two years to reorient almost all of its cargoes to the Dnipro River and transport by water up to 4 million tonnes of products per year, which will allow reducing the load on the roads.
Nibulon cultivates 83,000 hectares of land. It exports agricultural products to more than 60 countries. The annual export volume exceeds 4.5 million tonnes.
