Coal intended for delivery to the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny is being loaded onto the Ocean Ambitious vessel at the coal terminal in the Port of Baltimore (United States). This was reported by the CFTS, citing the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America.

The bulk carrier with deadweight of 63,577 tons will be loaded with 62,000 tons of coal. Ocean Ambitious, which sails under the flag of Hong Kong, was commissioned in 2016. It has a length of 200 meters and a width of 32 meters.

The vessel is being loaded at the speed of 5,000 tons per hour. According to marinetraffic.com, the bulk carrier is currently in the Port of Baltimore.

The coal was purchased for the Centrenergo power generating company from Xcoal Energy & Resources (United States) at the price of USD 113 per ton, which includes the delivery cost. Centrenergo’s contract with Xcoal Energy & Resources provides for delivery of about 700,000 tons of anthracite coal to Ukraine by the end of 2017. According to information published in the ProZorro public procurement system, the Ekskomservis limited liability company won the tender for provision of freight forwarding services related to the coal at the cost of UAH 188,076 (including VAT).

The coal from the United States will be transshipped by the Yuzhny Commercial Seaport. 

This seaport has already transshipped 225,000 tons of coal delivered from South Africa for the DTEK power company since late May. The unloading of the third bulk carrier with South African anthracite was completed at the Yuzhny seaport in August 16. The Yuzhny seaport expects to receive an additional 450,000 tons of South African coal intended for DTEK’s power plants by the end of the year.

"Judging by the schedule of shipments and replenishment of warehouses at coal-fired power plants, September will be one of the busiest months in terms of transshipment of imported thermal coal. The period of September-October will be one of the most intense periods for the port industry and Ukrzaliznytsia railway company, given that the season of intensive grain exports begins at this time," said Andrii Usaev, a consultant with CFTS Consulting.

As the CFTS reported, all the terminals operating in the Yuzhny seaport handled a total of 22.105 million tons of cargo in the first half of this year, which is 7.3% more than the 20.597 million tons they handled in the corresponding period of last year. The flow of dry bulk cargo through the Yuzhny seaport increased by 9.1% to 19.727 million tons. These include 10.683 million tons of all kinds of ore (which is 5.8% less than the volume in the first half of last year), 3.330 million tons of coal (an increase of 79.1%), and 4.425 million tons of grain (an increase of 30.9%).