Ukraine is located next to the sea and has such transport arteries as the Danube and the Dnieper. However, by the number of merchant ships in 2010, it was only in 70th place in the world ranking.
During the existence of the Soviet Union, two thirds of cargo transported by sea vessels was handled in the ports of Ukraine. However, in the 90s of the XX century, the country lost most of its ships. On August 29, 2012, Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov made a statement on the need to restore the country's merchant fleet. He considers it vital to increase export volumes. The government plans to annually export more than 20,000,000 tons of grain and fertilizers and import about 10,000,000,000 cubic meters. m. liquefied gas. The most convenient way for this, in the opinion of the country's leadership, is the fleet, since the Dnieper and Danube rivers flowing in Ukraine have great potential as transport arteries.
The restoration of the sea and river fleet will help reduce the cost of transporting goods within the country. However, the Prime Minister noted that in order to implement these plans, it is necessary to update the entire transport infrastructure of the country (including railways, airports, highways) and establish competitive prices for the transportation of goods.
The size of financial investments for the implementation of such a project remains unclear, since Ukraine will need additional ships. So far, only the government has announced its intention to provide funds for the restoration of the Dnieper as a shipping company in the 2012 budget of Ukraine. The first step will be to clear the river channel and install transshipment terminals. In the future, it is planned to attract private companies to participate in the revival of shipping. For example, recently in the Kiev region, the grain company Nibulon opened a transshipment terminal, which can provide loading of up to 10,000 tons of grain per day into river transport. And in the near future it is planned to modernize the port in Odessa and launch a new dry-cargo ship by order of Ulstein International AS.
