The invaders want to restore the ferry line from the port of Skadovsk to Turkey

The occupation authorities of the Kherson Region propose to restore the ferry line from Skadovsky port to Zonguldak (Turkey).
If this ferry crossing is renewed, new trade routes will appear, rosZMI quotes “acting Governor” of the Kherson Region, Volodymyr Saldo.
During a working meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he proposed to restore the trade route from Skadovsky port on the Black Sea to the Turkish city of Zonguldak. The transcript of the meeting was published on the website of the Kremlin.
“In connection with the fact that today the Grain Agreement is no longer in place, there is a proposal to restore the trade route, which, when I was still working as a mayor, in 2007 we launched from the port of Skadovsky on the Black Sea to Zonguldak, there is the city of Zonguldak, and to There was a ferry going to Istanbul, the ferry crossing was working and there were more than 1,200 foreign ship calls,” commented the traitor of Ukraine.
He noted that the ferries carried heavy trucks.
“In general, they had to go either around the entire Black Sea – either on one side or on the other – and here it is only 295 miles to Zonguldak,” the collaborator emphasized.
Zonguldak, a sister city of Kherson, is the only city in Turkey where hard coal is mined, according to Saldo. The city has a port.
“If this ferry crossing is restored now, its operation, then it turns out that we have new trade routes, completely new ones – directly there quickly, 20 hours in total,” said Volodymyr Saldo.

Why is the restoration of the ferry crossing in Skadovsk another fever of the invaders?

The invaders themselves “zeroed out” freight traffic and ship calls in Skadovsk. In 2014, the port sharply lost 80% of cargo turnover compared to 2013. At that time, despite the advantageous geographical location and low tariffs, carriers did not risk cooperating with the port due to the dangerous proximity to the ATO (later OOS) zones.

The company became unprofitable, accumulated debts. In 2021, the Ukrainian authorities planned to privatize the port.

Skadovsk was able to receive a ferry from Zonguldak in 2016. In 2019, the ports planned to resume regular ferry service: then the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration and the governor of Zonguldak province signed the corresponding protocol on cooperation intentions.

Already during the large-scale war, in September of last year, the spokesman of the Turkish president, Ibrahim Kalin, said that Turkey would not recognize the results of the Russian “referendums” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“We do not consider the unilateral referendum attempts to be correct, because we did not recognize the 2014 Crimean referendum and its result, and our position on such referendums is clear. We recognize the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian people and the state and declare that we stand on the side of Ukraine,” Kalin noted.

Thus, Turkish ports accept stolen Ukrainian grain loaded on ships in occupied Crimea. This is usually argued by the lack of sufficient evidence that the grain comes from Ukraine (because the Russians mix their grain with Ukrainian grain, and also forge documents for the cargo).

But officially signing agreements with the occupiers on the restoration of ferry service is a completely different matter, so Turkey will not allow such actions and the associated reputational risks in the international arena, given its position on the independence and integrity of Ukraine.

In addition, the publication “Most” wrote that Vladimir Saldo is not the first to speak about the intention to restore the ferry crossing between the occupied Skadovsk and the Turkish port. This year in June, he said the same thing in an interview with the Russian mass media and stated that he allegedly had something to do with the creation of the crossing in 2007.

As the journalists noted, the Skadovsk-Zonguldak ferry crossing is located far outside the borders of Kherson — on the territory that does not extend to the powers of the mayor of the regional center. Therefore, it is not clear how the balance took part in its creation.

And as a final chord: Turkish business will not agree to cooperation with the occupiers, just like the state. Resumption of ferry services requires investment from Turkey as well. And business arrangements with the occupied territories are disadvantageous both economically and in terms of reputation.

You can also look at the activity of shipping in the area of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia in the Black Sea to understand how much Turkey does not need cooperation with Russia in all aspects.

But in any case, an official statement by Turkey regarding the hopes placed on it by the Russians and the traitors of Ukraine would not be superfluous.

Read also: The invaders export stolen Ukrainian grain through Skadovsk port