Major Japanese Container Company To Replace Maersk At Odesa Port

Ocean Network Express (ONE), a Japanese container line, will launch a service to Ukraine in April this year through Container Terminal Odesa in the Odesa port. Container Terminal Odesa’s Executive Director for Commerce Ihor Yarovenko announced the signing of the relevant contract, the CFTS portal reports.

According to representatives of Container Terminal Odesa, it will ensure that the port will not lose cargo traffic following the departure of the Maersk company to the Yuzhny port, and it may even result in an increase in cargo volumes in 2018.

"Every company, including Maersk, has the right to consider and seek the most favorable or exclusive conditions for its operations on the Ukrainian market. Container Terminal Odesa, as the largest container terminal in Ukraine and the public terminal whose services are used by the largest number of container lines, offers market and equal working conditions to all customers, regardless of their size and ratings," said Anastas Kokkin, the terminal’s general director.

According to Kokkin, the company has also managed to maintain its leadership position on the Ukrainian market through phased implementation of a joint project to expand the terminal at the Quarantine Mole jointly with the Ukrainian Seaports Authority. The construction of a protective breakwater will be continued in 2018 under this project.

According to the company, simultaneous processing of two container ships at a high productivity rate has allowed Container Terminal Odesa to virtually eliminate downtime among vessels entering its berths completely. In particular, more than 240,000 TEU or about 40% of the company’s total cargo traffic were handled at the new berths at the Quarantine Mole in the period of 2016-2017. This is significantly more than the volumes that were handled at each of the terminals operating in the ports of Yuzhny and Chornomorsk during the same period. 

Container Terminal Odesa’s cargo turnover totaled 52,499 TEU in the period of January-February 2018, which is 16.5% more than its cargo turnover in the corresponding period of 2017. This growth was achieved because the company managed to attract new customers, such as Yang Ming and Cosco Shipping Lines, last year.