Ukrainian seaports as of November 26, 2018 exceeded the volume of cargo handling in the same period of 2017 by more than 760 thousand tons according to operational data. Ports on the Black and Azov Seas continue to work in regular mode. This was stated by the Head of the USPA, Raivis Veckagans, at the Infrastructure Day of the European Business Association.
Since the second half of the year, Ukrainian seaports managed not only to reduce the 3% lag in transshipment volumes of the previous year figures, but also to exceed it by 0.6% or by 767 thousand tons in the end of November. According to Raivis Veckagans, this was achieved due to increased efficiency of grain transportation by rail.
The Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority stressed that the introduction of martial law in Ukraine did not affect the operational activities of the ports. Work on loading and unloading vessels continues on both the Black Sea and the Azov Seas.
The current situation, of course, affects the cost of goods transportation from the Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea. “The USPA, in turn, continues to invest in the development of these ports. By the end of next year, we plan to bring the depths in the ports of Berdiansk and Mariupol to the passport depths. Another dredger will be transferred there after the repair. Also, in Mariupol, the investment project on the reconstruction of the berth No. 4 and the construction of a new grain terminal in conjunction with SE «Mariupol Commercial Sea Port» is continuing,— Raivis Veckagans told about the plans for the development of ports. Implementation of the project, in which the USPA has already invested more than UAH 50 million, will increase the capacity of the terminal up to 1.5 million tons per year.
