The Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is designing a new road parallel to the existing Odesa-Reni highway, part of which runs through the territory of the Republic of Moldova (Palanca village), Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Yuriy Vaskov said.
“We are designing a road in parallel with the existing Odesa-Reni highway to organize a connection on Ukrainian territory,” Vaskov said at Infrastructure Day 2023, organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, the construction of a facility is planned directly on the Odesa-Reni highway.
“In order to solve the problem point by point, we, as the Ministry of Reconstruction, have found funding and want to build a structure to avoid stopping vehicles,” Vaskov said, adding that the issue is being coordinated with the Moldovan side, in particular, with territorial communities in Moldova.
The Deputy Minister noted that there are attempts to illegally cross the border, both successful and unsuccessful.
As you know, a part of the Odesa-Reni highway on the section from Mayaky village to Udobne village (from 51 to 50 km) runs through Moldovan territory.
On June 30, 2011, an act was signed in Chisinau (Moldova) to define and fix the boundaries of the Odesa-Reni highway section near Palanca village and the land plot. Palanca village, as well as the land plot on which it runs. The road section was de jure transferred to the ownership of Ukraine on November 18, 2001, but the act of determining the boundaries on the ground was never determined.
According to the 1999 border agreement, Moldova transferred a 7.7 km section of the Odesa-Reni highway to Ukraine for use, but the territory adjacent to the road near Palanca remained in Moldovan ownership. After the change of power in Moldova in 2009, Ukraine demanded that the territory of almost 1,000 hectares be transferred to its ownership, arguing that Moldova had transferred 450 meters of the Danube coastline to Ukraine in 2002, which enabled it to build the Giurgiulesti seaport.
One of the world leaders Danish transport and logistics company A.P. Moeller-Maersk AS, which stopped its ship calls to Ukraine since February last year after a full-scale Russian invasion, has resumed delivery of clients’ cargoes to the Ukrainian port of Reni from Constanta (Romania) by barge, the company’s official website says.
“Development in Ukraine remains in focus, as well as the implementation of solutions for our customers in terms of security,” it said.
According to it, Maersk is launching a new weekly barge service from Constanta port to Reni port on two routes – via Constanta/Danube Canal and the Black Sea with a transit time of approximately 1.5 days.
It is reported that the company’s system is updated and accepts reservations from customers with delivery to the port of Reni. Their implementation will be subject to the working capacities, subject to the proper documentation, including the legal adoption of the provision of Ukraine on the risks in the region.
The company advised to contact its local representatives for more detailed information about deliveries to the port of Reni.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, A.P. Moeller-Maersk AS decreased its net profit by 18.8% and revenue by 3.7%, which was worse than experts’ forecasts. Net income in October-December was $4.95 billion compared to $6.094 billion in the same period of the previous year. Revenue fell to $17.82 billion compared to $18.506 billion.
The average freight rate was down 3.5% for the fourth quarter of 2021, and freight volume fell 14%.
Maersk also stopped operations in the Russian market. All services in Russia ceased operations in the first quarter, and in the third quarter the deal to sell a 30.75% stake in Global Ports Investments was closed. The process of selling the remaining assets – two warehouses and four tugboats – continued.
Maersk generated EBITDA of $36.81 billion and EBIT of $30.86 billion in 2022.
Movement for heavy vehicles on the public road M-15 Odessa-Reni (to Bucharest) is temporarily closed from 13:00 October 28 for a day due to difficult weather conditions, reported in the Telegram channel of the Patrol Police on Saturday.
“The traffic is temporarily blocked for heavy vehicles in connection with the complication of weather conditions (intense wet snow and rain) in order to prevent accidents and complications in traffic. Restrictions will take effect from 13:00 on January 28 until 13:00 on January 29 on the road M-15 Odessa-Reni,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority has signed an agreement with SC Complex Delta SRL (Romania) on carrying out operational dredging in the water areas of Izmail and Reni seaports following a tender conducted in then ProZorro electronic system of public procurement. “For the first time in the history of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Romanian companies came out for dredging tenders, and one of them won the tender. This indicates the quality of the procedure, its transparency and competitiveness. Now the winner company can mobilize the fleet and proceed with the work required to maintain navigational dimensions in Izmail and Reni,” head of the agency Raivis Veckagans said.
The administration said dredging will help improve the processing conditions of existing cargo flows and attract new ones, increase accepting ship and develop the business as a whole.
The cost of work under the contract will be about UAH 32 million. The total estimated volume of soil to be treated is 200,000 cubic meters, including up to 156,000 cubic meters in the water area of Izmail seaport, and up to 44,000 cubic meters in the water areas of Reni port. The planned time for dredging is not more than four months.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov hope that the towns of Reni in Odesa region and Varna in Bulgaria would be connected by a highway.
“We have arranged that we would step up the issues of building a highway of the transport corridor between Reni in Odesa region and Varna [in Bulgaria] across Romania. I hope that the resources of the European Union will be on our side as well. We will also attract our Romanian partners. And we will do our best to ensure that in the near future you can drive from Odesa to Varna in a few hours,” Poroshenko told reporters on Saturday in Kyiv after the negotiations with the Bulgarian prime minister.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported that Poroshenko showed a map, which the Bulgarian prime minister brought, indicating the route of building the transport corridor.
“The map, which the president showed, lacks the signature of the Romanian side. The construction of this road will not be very expensive. It could be public private partnership or a joint fund of three states,” the president said.
