New grain terminal launched in Odessa port

 

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Olekandr Vilkul has launched of a new pilot grain-handling complex "Brooklyn-Kiev" Ltd in the Odessa commercial sea port, the Information-analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

New grain elevator at Androsovsky breakwater is a unique, modern, high-tech handling complex, which is unparalleled at Odessa port both by scope of simultaneous storage and planned annual turnover.

Capacity of the terminal is 4 million tons of grain annually. The terminal includes a berth (254 meters length and 12.5 meters depth at the boundary), which can take vessels up to 60 tons of dead weight.

The grain terminal (designed for 240 tons of simultaneous grain storage) will be one of the most advanced terminals at the Black Sea. Total project cost is 125 million USD, of which 95 million USD of investments and the rest is ensured by the port. The terminal's startup created 230 jobs for Odessa.

Experts say the new grain-handling complex at Androsovsky breakwater will be the fourth grain-handling complex at the Odessa port. The new terminal can process 15% of Ukrainian grain exports and will be a core project of Odessa commercial port, which processes over 45 million tons of cargo on annual basis.

Government experts say construction of new elevator is due to the stable position of Ukraine among leading world grain exporters. They also credit the Strategy of Developing Port Infrastructure 2038, which has been adopted by the government.

The grain-handling complex at Androsovsky breakwater (with a potential scope of grain exports up to 4 million tons annually) is the first implemented project contained in the brief.

The Cabinet expects implementation of the strategy will increase annual cargo handling up to 210 million tons and attract private investments in the amount of 26 billion UAH. It envisions an increase the efficiency of cargo-handling complexes at seaports by up to 80% and the creatation of 15,000 additional jobs.

Ukraine is a notable and significant exporter of crops and oilseeds and supplies agricultural products to over 50 countries of the world. Ukrainian exporters recently discovered several new markets, the most promising and rapidly growing of which are located in Southeast Asia.

In the international arena, Ukraine is considered to have tremendous agricultural potential (the country is among top ten grain exporters of the world with grain export potential over 60 million tons). Ukraine has high-quality land, water resources and a hard-working population. Successful development of export potential requires qualitative development of modern port infrastructure including the building of port elevators for 30 million tons (2.3 million tons at the moment) at an estimated cost of 6 billion USD.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food says agricultural exports from Ukraine totaled 18.2 billion USD in 2012 (up 40% from 2011) and for the first time exceeded income from metal exports. Ministry experts say Ukraine this year is in a position to export the agricultural products for 20.6 billion USD (28 million tons of grain, which can be an absolute record for independent Ukraine). This figure is 2 billion USD higher than last year's results.