The grain transshipment capacity of Ukrainian seaports could increase to 100 million tons in five years, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority’s acting head Raivis Veckagans announced at the Grain Ukraine conference in Odesa.
"Exports [of grain] are expected to exceed 60 million tons next year. Currently, the rate of export growth is 19%. The plan for development of terminal construction currently involves more than 35 projects, including 10 under implementation. If I were to make a forecast, I would say that the capacity of our ports could reach 100 million tons in five years. We should be interested in major players who can handle such volumes," Veckagans said.
He added that it was necessary to focus on development of not only ports. "Grain transshipment cannot be divorced from planned development of other infrastructure. It is a single logistics chain. Proper strategic planning will help increase cargo flows," he said.
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority’s deputy head in charge of logistics Viacheslav Voronyi recently stated in a blog on the CFTS portal that construction of 36 facilities for transshipment of grain was planned by the year 2020. In general, ports will be capable of handling a minimum of 92.3 million tons of grain cargo and a maximum of 157.3 million tons by that time.
Ukraine exported 43.8 million tons of grain in the 2016/2017 marketing year (July 2016-June 2017) and 39.487 million tons in the 2015/2016 marketing year.
