Ukraine has announced an international tender for the purchase of a modern multifunctional vessel for Danube ports, which will perform environmental, emergency rescue, and technical tasks.
According to a statement by the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority” (USPA), the vessel will be designed to operate in the ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ust-Dunaysk, which are currently key logistics hubs in the south of the country.
According to the technical specifications, the new vessel will be able to collect oil products and debris from the water surface, extinguish fires on ships and port facilities, and perform tugboat and mooring functions, assisting large ships in maneuvering.
The project is being implemented as part of the RELINC (Restoration of Essential Logistics Infrastructure and Network Connectivity) program with the support of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Experts note that the new vessel will not only strengthen the port infrastructure, but will also be an important element of the environmental safety of the entire Danube.
Danube ports currently handle more than 40% of all Ukrainian agricultural exports and play a key role in international logistics, especially after the blockade of Black Sea routes.
The Danube is approximately 2,850 km long, the second longest river in Europe after the Volga.
The river basin flows through 10 countries — Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine — and flows into the Black Sea through the Danube Delta, part of which is located in the Odesa region.
According to estimates by the European Commission and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the level of pollution in the river remains moderate, but there is an accumulation of heavy metals, pesticides, and microplastics, especially in the tributaries.
The main sources of pollution are industrial discharges, agrochemicals, household waste, and shipping.
The first ship with 25 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain has arrived to Ethiopia within the humanitarian program “Grain from Ukraine” of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyi, the press service of the President said.
“The first ship in the framework of the Ukrainian humanitarian program “Grain from Ukraine” on December 3 arrived in Ethiopia, delivering 25 thousand tons of Ukrainian wheat to the port of Dorale,” – said in the message.
Zelensky announced this program on November 15 during the G20 summit.
The second vessel, the loading of which is completing in the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk, will go to Ethiopia next week with 30 thousand tons of wheat on board.
The third vessel will deliver 25 thousand tons of humanitarian wheat to Somalia (loading in Odessa port).
“In total, in the framework of the humanitarian initiative “Grain from Ukraine” our state plans to send more than 60 ships to Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Kenya, Yemen, etc.,” – said in the message.
It is noted that more than $180 mln was attracted for implementation of this program.
The Ministry of Infrastructure announced the departure of the first ship with 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn from the sea trade port “Odessa”.
“The first ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa,” Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on his Facebook page.
Earlier, People’s Deputy of Ukraine (European Solidarity faction) Oleksiy Goncharenko in his telegram channel said that the first caravan of 16 dry cargo ships with grain from Ukraine would arrive in Turkey on August 3 this year.
As reported, on July 29, the ambassadors of the G7 countries in Ukraine arrived in Odessa to check the launch of the “grain corridor”.
On July 22, under the auspices of the UN, Ukraine and Turkey signed an agreement in Istanbul on the resumption of the safe export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.
On the morning of July 23, Russian invaders attacked the Odessa Commercial Sea Port with Caliber cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian Federation, with a missile attack on the port, questioned the agreements it had given to the UN and Turkey in the “grain” agreement. The UN chief unequivocally condemned reports of air strikes on Odessa, citing the commitments made by the parties at the signing ceremony in Istanbul.
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday that the first ship with grain on board could leave the Black Sea ports of Ukraine on Monday.
“Negotiations are ongoing. There is a possibility that the first ship will set off tomorrow morning,” Turkish TV channel TRT Haber quotes him as saying.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Black Sea ports – Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny.
JSC Zaporizhtransformator (ZTR), part of Energy Standard Group of businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, will ship a single-phase reactor to Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) by the end of this year.
According to a report on the ZTR website, the enterprise has a long-standing cooperation with Egypt – the equipment has been supplied there since the 90s, when ZTR was just mastering work in foreign markets, and Egypt was a priority.
Reactors manufactured by ZTR are installed at EETC, therefore, the press service notes, it is not surprising that ZTR was the first enterprise with which the customer began to work on the issue of manufacturing a single-phase reactor as part of an urgent and important project.
“The substation where the equipment is planned to be installed is of strategic importance for Egypt, being a link between Egypt and Jordan,” the report says.
ZTR emphasizes that the shipment of equipment will be carried out by container lines (and not in a cargo hold of a ship) – such a scheme was used by the enterprise for the first time this year when shipping three reactors to Argentina due to small overall dimensions of the equipment.
At the same time, according to ZTR, transportation costs have been more than halved, which, in turn, increases the competitiveness of the enterprise and makes it possible to participate in tenders on other continents along with local manufacturers.
ZTR has experience in deliveries to 88 countries. It manufactures power oil transformers, electric reactors and controlled shunt reactors.
Belarusian Sea Shipping Company is planning to ship steel goods made by Belarus Steel Works (BSW) to Europe via Ukrainian and Serbian ports.
The shipping company is willing to organize “experimental shipments of metal goods to Europe via the ports of Odessa in Ukraine and Semderovo in Serbia with loading in Mozyr,” the Belarusian Transport Ministry said following a meeting between its head, Alexei Avramenko, and BSW management.
The ministry said the shipments would be a promising area for the shipping company’s development and make water transport more appealing or Belarusian industry in general.
OJSC Belarusian Sea Shipping Company was established in 2009 and carries export, import and transit cargo to and from CIS and non-CIS countries using river-sea ships.
Belarus is landlocked but most of its exports are carried out by sea, via the Baltic States. The shipping company had earlier been in favor of building a deep-water port on the Dnieper River in the Gomel region, 5 km from the border with Ukraine, then shipping cargo by sea from Odesa.
BSW produces steel, roll, tubular goods and hardware and exports to 66 countries.
BELARUSIAN SEA SHIPPING COMPANY, EUROPE, SERBIAN PORT, SHIP, STEEL
