Kherson port was officially conceded

Yesterday, on December 23rd, the parties signed an agreement on the transfer of property to the State Enterprise “Kherson Commercial Sea Port”.

The document was signed by the Ministry of Infrastructure, State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority”, OOO “Risoil-Kherson” (Limited Liability Company) and OOO “Kherson Port” (Limited Liability Company).

Infrastructure Minister Olexandr Kubrakov said that the Kherson port will be modernized, which will significantly increase its efficiency. We are talking about at least UAH 216 million (USD 7.89 million) of investments in the port in the next 3.5 years, and at least UAH 18 million (USD 658.1 thousand) – for the infrastructure of Kherson. In particular, the plans include co-financing the overhaul of roads on the way to the port and a new site for trucks outside the city.

According to the minister, capital investments will help realize the potential for the development of transportations on inland waterways, since the port is located in the Dnipro delta. One of the conditions of the concession agreement is to increase the rates of transshipment of goods that are sent to the port by river or rail.

The total investment amount is UAH 320 million (USD 11.7 million). The concessionaire company plans to modernize and reconstruct equipment, mechanize warehouses and install additional silos. For this, the investment schedule has already been approved, and technical projects have been developed.

Under the terms of the concession agreement, the concessionaire undertakes:

• pay annually a concession payment in the amount of at least UAH 12 million (USD 438.7 thousand), taking into account indexation and 7% of net income;
• within the first 3.5 years from the date of the end of the transition period, invest at least UAH 216 million (USD 7.89 million) in the facility, and during the first 10 years – at least UAH 62 million (USD 2.26 million) additionally;
• ensure the transshipment volumes of the port’s cargo in 2030 at the level of at least 1.36 million tons;
• ensure continuous operation of the port;
• transfer all employees of the Kherson seaport and part of the employees of the Administration of the seaports of Ukraine, preventing their dismissal within 10 years;
• not to allow a decrease in the wages of employees during the first three years from the moment they are hired by the concessionaire, increasing the level of payments in accordance with the law;
• carry out environmental protection measures.

The founders of Kherson Port LLC are the companies of the Risoil and Georgian Industrial Group indirectly. The agreement on the transfer of the property of the State Enterprise “Kherson Commercial Sea Port” to concession was signed on June 26th last year in the presence of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As a reminder, on December 1st of this year, the property of the State Enterprise “Stevedoring Company Olvia” was transferred for 35 years to the QTerminals Olvia concession, which is part of the QTerminals group.