Ukraine is in the final stage of negotiations on the resumption of ferry services from Azerbaijan to Ukraine.
Yurii Lytvyn, the head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports, citing the
Interfax Ukraine news agency.
“Negotiations on the resumption of ferry services from Baku to Ukraine and transit services through all the countries traversed by the vessels are in the final stage. We hope the ferry crossing will be operational soon,” he said.
At the same time, Lytvyn emphasized that the operation of the ferry line will depend on the market, specifically, on the yield of crops, the performance of the entire agricultural sector, the range of export-import cargoes, and the overall functioning of the economy.
“You can be calm about the ports. They will operate 24/7. We have everything necessary for this. We hope that the money we earn together will be invested in port infrastructure and that it will be restored promptly,” the head of the USPA said.
Lytvyn added that the USPA has set itself the priority task of restoring the port infrastructure to at least the pre-war level in the next two years, for which the organization needs UAH 9-9.5 billion.
It should be noted that the plan is likely to involve transporting goods from Azerbaijan by rail to the Georgian coast, from where they will be ferried to a Ukrainian port.
As the CFTS portal reported earlier, the ferry crossing Chornomorsk (Ukraine) - Poti (Georgia) may resume operations this spring. In March 2024, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Yurii Vaskov stated that Ukraine already has several potential shipowners and potential carriers for the organization of rail and road connections on the Chornomorsk - Georgia - Bulgaria route.
