News

Port of Antwerp International will provide consulting services to the USPA on tariff setting, concession and environmental policy

: 2018-12-11 07:49:41

The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority and Port of Antwerp International / APEC signed a memorandum of understanding. The document provides for the expansion of cooperation between the USPA and one of the largest ports in Europe, a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Ukrainian seaports and further interaction in order to attract investment in their development. The signing took place with the participation of Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Volodymyr Omelyan and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belgium to Ukraine Alex Lenaerts. “Experts from Port Antwerp International will conduct a SWOT-analysis of the situation in Ukrainian seaports and will formulate a plan of partnership assistance in implementation of the development strategy of Ukrainian seaports. Trainings for specialists of the USPA start this week in the areas of pricing for port services, work within the framework of port landlord model, concession project implementation, as well as the peculiarities of the interaction of environmental services in the port.” — noted the Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Raivis Veckagans. He also added that the signing of this memorandum is a logical step to continue the cooperation of the USPA with one of the largest ports in Europe, which has been continuing since the early 2000s. During this time dozens of specialists in the maritime industry of Ukraine have already been trained at the APEC Training Center. From Belgian port side, the memorandum was signed by Kristof Waterschoot, managing director of Port of Antwerp International and the APEC Port Training Center. He stressed that the Black Sea region and, in particular, the seaports of Ukraine are now at the center of attention of international experts. Port of Antwerp International is acting internationally, not only as a consultant, but also as an investor. In particular, the company invested 10 million dollars in Porto do Aç (Brazil) in 2017 and more than 2 million dollars in the port of San Pedro (West Africa) in 2016. Further cooperation with Ukrainian ports will also consider the possibility of Belgian and international experts participation in attracting investments and implementing projects on development of port infrastructure in the seaports of Ukraine. Reference Port of Antwerp International is located on the Schelde River. The total area of its territory — more than 13 thousand hectares, the length of the berthing front – 166 km, railways – 1061 km, roads – 409 km, storage areas – 610 hectares. The cargo turnover of the port in 2017 amounted to more than 220 million tons, more than 50% of them – container cargo, and another third is liquid cargo. The total income of the port consists of transfer to lease / concession (46%), port dues (33%), tonnage dues (14%), leasing of equipment (3%). Depths in the port are up 13.5 — 18.5 m.

The Ministry of Infrastructure continues to work on the implementation of pilot concession projects

: 2018-11-28 14:45:23

The Ministry of Infrastructure supported by “SPILNO” PPP Project Management Office moves ahead with the pilot concessions in ports Olvia and Kherson. Selection of the consultants’ consortium, comprising leading international and experienced Ukrainian companies, made a good start for the feasibility studies preparation. The consultants, backed by EBRD and IFC, began their work in March this year. The key findings of a comprehensive market analysis combined with a thorough financial, technical, environmental and legal analysis, formed a solid basis for the feasibility studies of both projects. During the meetings with potential investors, the suggestions of a wide range of domestic and international private partners were collected. Feasibility studies demonstrate that concession in Olvia port may potentially: (a) attract investments of about UAH 17.3 bln, (b) increase budget revenues up to UAH 58 bln within entire 35 years of the contract, including revenues from the concession fees up to UAH 19.5 bln. In its turn, Kherson Port over the next 30 years might: (a) get investments of about UAH 1.37 bln, (b) increase budget revenues up to UAH 14.3 bln for the entire duration of the concession contract, including revenues from concession fees up to UAH 2.8 bln. Working Groups under the Ministry of Infrastructure finalized a Conclusions on the efficiency analysis on PPP in both ports in October this year. Now we are heading to the next step — approval of the Conclusions by the Ministry of Economy to enable the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to form the tender commission and proceed with the tender organization.

Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea operate in a regular mode

: 2018-11-26 11:28:06

Ukrainian ports on the Azov Sea operate in a regular mode. Loading / unloading of vessels that had previously passed the Kerch-Yenikalsky strait continues. According to the operational data, the movement of vessels through the channel has been restored in the morning of November, 26th 2018. 30 vessels are expecting their turn at the passage to/from the ports of Mariupol and Berdiansk (16 are moving from the ports, and 14 are heading to the ports). In total by the end of 2018, according to operational data, Ukrainian ports at Azov Sea can accept and handle about 80 ships.

USPA: Ukrainian ports continue to work and increase cargo handling

: 2018-11-28 14:03:56

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.

Maritime Administration announced the selection of 13 seaport captains

: 2018-11-10 09:52:17

The State Service for Maritime and River Transport of Ukraine (Maritime Administration) has announced a competition for vacant positions of captains of 13 seaports of Ukraine. The relevant advertisement posted on the website of Maritime Administration. «Such an innovative management decision witness about considerable attention of acting government to the infrastructure sphere of the economy, which may and should substantially fill the state treasury,» — reported the press service of the Maritime Administration. According to the announcement, the competition will be held by the National Agency for Civil Service. «The competition is conducted (…) in accordance with the requirements established by law in relation to the professional competence of a candidate for employment on position in the civil service, assessment of his personal achievements, knowledge, skills and abilities, moral and business qualities for proper performance of official duties. And also with the principles of equal access, political impartiality, legitimacy, public trust, non-discrimination, transparency, integrity, reliability and compliance with testing methods, consistency of application of testing methods, effective and fair selection process,»- said in the statement. Deadline of filing documents — November 19, 2018. ports.com.ua