UkrLandFarming, the largest agricultural holding in Ukraine, still intends to build its own grain terminal at the Yuzhny port. Yevhen Sadovyi, the project manager for construction of UkrLandFarming’s grain terminals at the Yuzhny port, announced this in an interview with the Ports of Ukraine magazine.

Previously, the management of UkrLandFarming intended to begin construction in of the terminals in 2015, but the work has not yet begun. According to Sadovyi, there are problems with allocation of sites for construction of berths.

"Currently, front-end engineering and design plus approval are taking place. We would like to start as soon as possible. However, this year, the main efforts of the holding company are focused on creating a network of elevators. Surveys involving the location of the terminal, the configuration of the berthing front, and assessment of the possibility of development of an UkrLandFarming railway station have been completed. We are conducting geological surveys of the water area together with the Yuzhny port authority. We hope to begin drafting the project for the terminal this year. If it is possible to start construction work in early 2016, then the first phase of the grain terminal will go into operation within two years," said Sadovyi.

According to him, port facilities are needed, especially for handling UkrLandFarming’s own cargo, because the holding currently exports about 2.1 million tons of cargo through the ports of Ilyichevsk and Yuzhny.

"It plans to build a modern, high-performance terminal that will initially have a capacity of 5 million tons. It will have two berths with a length of 600 meters and a depth of 16 meters, where ships of up to 100,000 deadweight tons can be processed. There will be capacities for simultaneous storage of up to 400,000 tons initially. In the long term, we plan to build another berth to increase the simultaneous storage capacity to 800,000 tons and increase the terminal’s capacity to 10 million tons a year," said Sadovyi.

As reported, UkrLandFarming announced its intention to build the largest grain terminal at the Yuzhny port in 2012. UkrLandFarming’s largest shareholder Oleh Bakhmatiuk said in March 2013 that he was searching for a partner for construction of a terminal with a capacity of 3.5-5 million tons per year and an estimated value of USD 700-800 million. The Cargill corporation (United States) became a shareholder in UkrLandFarming in January 2014.

UkrLandFarming plans to build a multifunctional agricultural hub with a transhipment capacity of up to 10 million tons of grain and more than 260,000 tons of oil per year in two phases at the Yuzhny seaport. The agricultural hub is to be constructed on two land plots with a combined area of more than 200 hectares on both sides of the Adjalyk estuary.

The hub is expected to include an oil-and-fat complex and a grain terminal. The company is considering the possibility of adding a container terminal and a feed mill in the future.

The the project is divided into two phases. The first phase is expected to involve creation of a facility for transhipment of up to 5 million tons of grain per year with simultaneous storage of nearly 600,000 cubic meters of grain, processing of 1,500 tons oil seeds per day, and shipment of more than 130,000 tons of oil and nearly 130,000 tons of oil meal per year.

The capacity of the complex will nearly double after implementation of its second phase: transhipment of up to 10 million tons of grain per year and simultaneous storage of nearly 1 million cubic meters of grain, more than 260,000 tons of oil and 255,000 tons of oil meal per year. For the second phase to be implemented, the water depth at the complex’s quay should reach 19 meters.

Two lines for reception of grains from trucks and four lines for reception of grains from railcars are expected to be built at each of the sites. Each site will also be equipped with four ship-loading lines with a capacity of 1,500 per hour.