Nibulon proposes a mechanism that could add up to 100,000 tons of traffic per month to the Danube Corridor

According to the company’s assessment, the potential of the new solution on the scale of the Danube export corridor could be up to 100 thousand tons of additional transportation per month.

The company proposes to introduce a transitional mechanism for obtaining qualification documents for river fleet specialists, the Nibulon press service reported.

This mechanism will allow partially removing personnel restrictions on the Danube and making fuller use of the existing fleet.

“In the conditions of limited operation of seaports, the Danube is once again becoming one of the key alternative routes for Ukrainian exports. Ukraine already has the necessary infrastructure and fleet here, but the actual capacity of the corridor today is limited, in particular, by the shortage of qualified crew members,” Nibulon notes.

Part of this shortage, according to experts, is procedural in nature. For specialists who need to obtain new qualifications or undergo retraining to work on inland waterways, the current procedures do not fully provide the opportunity to promptly issue all the necessary documents and participate in international transportation on the Danube.

As a result, shipowners have a technically ready fleet, but cannot fully man the crews and put additional vessels into operation.

“The company can additionally use 12 tugboats on the Danube, but for this it is necessary to resolve the issue of retraining and registration of the necessary documents for approximately 30 specialists. And we are not the only ones who face such a limitation. If we create a workable mechanism for attracting qualified specialists on an industry scale, the Danube corridor will be able to transport an additional 100 thousand tons of cargo per month,” said Sergey Kalkutin, Director of Logistics at Nibulon.

Thus, Nibulon proposes to introduce a temporary transitional mechanism for assigning and confirming the qualifications of river fleet specialists and obtaining the necessary documents by them until the full transition to European rules is completed.

We are talking about creating a workable procedure for specialists who have the necessary training and experience, but today cannot promptly complete the documentation for work on the Danube.

“Every additional 100 thousand tons that the Danube Corridor can receive is an opportunity to support purchases from agricultural producers, ensure the receipt of foreign exchange earnings and make the entire export system more sustainable. When the country already has the necessary infrastructure, fleet and trained people, it is important to remove regulatory barriers that do not allow this resource to be used to its full potential,” stressed Serhiy Kalkutin.

It should be noted that the company calls on relevant state authorities, together with representatives of the industry, to promptly form a transitional solution that will allow attracting the necessary number of qualified specialists to work on inland waterways without reducing the requirements for professional competence and navigation safety.