The state-owned Pivdennyi commercial seaport began designing a transshipment complex for imported bulk cargo, which is intended for transshipment of coking and thermal coal, in January.

The seaport announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the statement, construction of the complex is stipulated in the program for reconstruction (modernization) of the Pivdennyi seaport’s main production facilities. Implementation of this program is planned for the period of 2021-2025, and the program provides for implementation includes three major projects. The Pivdennyi seaport’s financial plan allocates UAH 5.5 million for financing the design of the complex.

As reported previously, the Pivdennyi seaport is designed to handle export cargoes. However, the seaport has increased the processing of imported goods in recent years due to Ukraine’s increased need for imported coal.

Currently, the Pivdennyi seaport handles about 2.6 million tons of imported goods per year. The new complex will increase the volume of transshipment of imported bulk cargo to 5 million tons and reduce cargo-processing time. According to the Pivdennyi seaport, these cargoes are primarily thermal and coking coal. The Pivdennyi seaport said that it already has orders for transshipment of 5 million tons of imported cargo per year.

The complex will include conveyor lines at the seaport’s berths Nos. 5, 6, and 7, which will transport goods to a new warehouse in the upper part of the seaport. Additionally, a modern warehouse with a one-time storage capacity of 200,000 tons will be built.

Coal is currently unloaded into warehouses near berths, from where locomotives transport it to the Berehova railway station, which is located in the upper part of the seaport. The angle of inclination of the rail tracks that are used to transport the coal is 10%, which significantly reduces the number of wagons that can be used to transport the coal simultaneously. The rail tracks to the upper parts of the seaport where the new transshipment complex will be built are not inclined, which will allow shunting operations to be performed with 20 or more locomotives belonging to the railway or the seaport. The number of wagons that can be used and the volume of shipment will thus increase.

"The new project will reduce the accumulation of imported goods in warehouses and the number of shunting operations at the seaport and the Berehova railway station. Increase of the number of wagons that are processed to 200 per day will increase the rate of unloading of ships and reduce ship downtime in berths due lack of free storage space," the Pivdennyi seaport’s acting Director Oleksandr Oliinyk said.

According to preliminary estimates, the total cost of the facility is about USD 18.4 million. The expected economic impact is about USD 500,000 per month in additional income. Construction of the complex is planned for the period of 2021-2023.

As reported, import of thermal coal through Ukrainian seaports was resumed in the summer of 2019 after the Russian Federation imposed restrictions on coal exports to Ukraine. This led to an increase in the burden on the Pivdennyi seaport’s infrastructure, but it also enabled the seaport to set cargo transshipment records.