The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) will pay more attention to dredging, service functions, and berths and other infrastructure should go to concession through tenders, head of the supervisory board of the USPA Andriy Haidutsky said.
“As you know, investments in each berth are estimated on average from UAH 500 million to UAH 1.5 billion, depending on the type of berth, its length, depth, and so on. Of course, the USPA does not have such large funds, since we have revenue of about UAH 7 billion and about UAH 2 billion of profit, but the shareholder – the state – likes to take 50-70% of the funds as dividends. Thus, we have very limited capital investments, and there is demand for new berths and infrastructure renewal. The USPA is changing – it will pay more attention to dredging, service functions, and berths and other infrastructure should go to concession through tenders,” he said during the Ukrainian Ports Forum 2021.
He noted that pilot projects of concessions in the seaports of Kherson and Olvia are already being implemented, concession tenders are being prepared in the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Berdiansk.
“In the future, we will move to the concession of individual berths – this is also a world practice. And thus the state will be able to continue to receive dividends, and the port infrastructure will be able to receive investments directly in the development of the industry,” he said.
As reported, with reference to acting head of the USPA Oleksandr Holodnytsky, the transfer of the integral property complex of Kherson seaport to the concessionaire will be completed in June 2021, the property complex of Olvia specialized seaport – in December 2021.
INDIVIDUAL BERTHS, UKRAINIAN SEA PORTS, UKRAINIAN SEA PORTS AUTHORITY
The seaports of Ukraine in January-March 2021 handled 32.6 million tonnes of cargo, which is 20.5% less than in the same period last year.
According to the website of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, most of all the ports handled ore and grain cargo – 9 million tonnes (less by 12.1%) and 8.6 million tonnes (less by 36.9%), respectively. At the same time, transshipment of oil in the three months of this year increased by 21.1% and amounted to 619,000 tonnes.
Over the reporting period, transshipment of export cargo amounted to 25.3 million tonnes (less by 20.1% compared to the same period in 2020), import – 4.9 million tonnes (19.9% less), transit – 2.1 million tonnes (25.1% less), cabotage – 233,800 tonnes (35.1% less).
Transshipment of containers in the first quarter of 2021 amounted to 253,170 TEU, which is 4.6% less than in the same period a year earlier.
As reported, the seaports of Ukraine in 2020 handled 158.86 million tonnes of cargo. In 2019, seaports handled exactly 160 million tonnes.
State-owned enterprise (SOE) Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority and one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural groups Kernel have signed an agreement of cooperation, foreseeing investment of the group in the development of infrastructure of the Chornomorsk seaport in the amount of over UAH 3 billion.
According to the press service of the authority, under the agreement, by the end of 2020, the port plans to dredge near four berths and build a new grain terminal, which will increase transshipment to 6 million tonnes.
“The agreement between the Sea Ports Authority and Kernel is a good example of public private partnership and the next step in the systemic development of the port of Chornomorsk, which the authority is engaged in. This year we completed a large-scale main dredging project on the port’s approach canal and the water area of the first boot basin of the Sukhy estuary and we immediately proceed to the creation of the depths necessary for business at the berths No. 14-17. The Kernel company, for its part, has committed to guarantee the volume of cargo traffic of at least 6 million tonnes per year. This will contribute to a quick payback on capital investment of the authority,” the press service of the authority said, citing its head Raivis Veckagans.
He also added that the implementation of the project will help improve the conditions for the export of products of Ukrainian enterprises, increase ship calls and create about 250 new jobs in the port of Chornomorsk.
In turn, Kernel CEO Yevhen Osipov said that agribusiness is now the locomotive of the Ukrainian economy, so the company’s strategic goal by 2020 is to increase grain exports to 8.8 million tonnes via launching a new terminal in Chornomorsk.
According to the report, the volume of investments in the public private partnership project by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority will amount to almost UAH 230 million.
