During a visit to Kiev on 26 October, United States Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker held discussions with Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Andrii Pyvovarskyi and Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk on the prospects for construction of a grain terminal with an annual capacity of up to 5 million tons at the Yuzhny port by the Cargill company. Pyvovarskyi announced this at the Yuzhny port on Friday, the CFTS portal reports.
According to the minister of infrastructure, the vice president of the American commodity giant was also present at the meeting.
As reported, the Ministry of Infrastructure has signed a tripartite memorandum of intent to implement an investment project at the Yuzhny seaport in August 2015. The document was signed by Cargill’s CEO Martin Schuldt, the Administration of Seaports of Ukraine’s Chairman Andrii Amelin, the MV Cargo company’s Director Oleksandr Prymak.
On 27 October, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that it was considering providing a loan of up to USD 37 million to the company MV Cargo Ltd. for financing construction of a grain terminal at the Yuzhny port. This issue will be considered at a meeting of the board of directors of the EBRD on 9 December.
According to Pyvovarskyi, the International Finance Corporation is also ready to join the project.
"If the terminal is built, the rail capacity that we have created at the Yuzhny port – 52 pairs of trains – will no linger be sufficient, and it will need to be expanded," Pyvovarskyi said.