The volume of grain transshipment in Ukrainian seaports since the beginning of 2019 has exceeded 46 million tons, which is 6.1 million tons more than the transshipment volume in the entire 2018, according to the latest data.
According to the Ukrainian Seaports Authority (USPA), the total grain transshipment capacity of Ukrainian seaports has increased by 9% to about 85 million tons per year, compared with last year, the CFTS portal reports.
The Ukrainian Seaports Authority is working with businesses to increase the capacity for transshipment of agricultural cargo in seaports. This autumn, the Ukrainian Seaports Authority and businesses reached agreement on implementation of two investment projects in this sector.
"In September, the Ukrainian Seaports Authority signed an agreement with Kernel, the world's largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, which provides for investment of more than UAH 3 billion in development of the Chornomorsk seaport’s infrastructure. A memorandum of understanding between the Ukrainian Seaports Authority and COFCO, one of the largest Chinese corporations, and the state-owned Mariupol stevedore was signed during the first ‘RE: Think: Invest in Ukraine’ investment forum in late October, which was attended by the president of Ukraine. Its implementation will facilitate a 3.5-fold increase of transshipment of agricultural cargoes in the Mariupol seaport," the Ukrainian Seaports Authority’s head Raivis Veckagans said.
The Ukrainian Seaports Authority plans to dredge the waters of the Chornomorsk seaport and along the berths through which Kernel’s agricultural cargo will be shipped. In addition to the dredging, the berths No. 2 and No. 3 in the Mariupol seaport will be reconstructed. Both projects provide guaranteed increase of cargo flows, which will accelerate the return of the state-owned the Ukrainian Seaports Authority’s investment.
The reconstruction of the Mariupol seaport’s berth No. 4, in the rear of which the state-owned Mariupol Commercial Seaport is completing the construction of a new grain terminal, is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
The Ukrainian Seaports Authority completed the dredging of the Mykolaiv seaport’s waters to the officially declared depth in October 2019. This port is a leader in transshipment of agricultural cargo in Ukraine. Two more major projects are ongoing in the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk. In general, the volume of maintenance dredging performed by the Ukrainian Seaports Authority’s own fleet and those performed by companied it hired has already reached 5 million cubic meters in 2019.
