The USPA explained why they are not dredging the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi port

The Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration is not carrying out dredging work in the Dniester-Lyman Canal due to the risks associated with the war.

This was stated by the head of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority” Oleksandr Semirha in an interview with USM.

In an interview, the head of the USPA Oleksandr Semirga said that, first of all, the Ukrainian sea corridor involves directing ships to three ports of Great Odesa — Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi and Odesa. Therefore, there are no ship calls to the port of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.

“We cannot carry out dredging or any other work where mine surveys have not been conducted and the proper level of security has not been ensured,” Oleksandr Semyrha explained.

He also noted that the example of our dredging vessel on the approach channel of the Bystroye estuary is particularly illustrative: even within the current corridor, under the conditions of mine countermeasures, it was damaged by a mine explosion. The vessel was half-flooded, and now the USPA is working to raise and restore it.

We will remind you that the issue of the lack of depths of the approach channel in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi port began to be raised during the auctions for the privatization of the complex. At that time, the port noted that the declared draft was 1.8 meters, while the passport depths provide for 5.5 meters.

We will also recall that in 2021, the USPA sent two dredgers to carry out dredging work – the Skif dredger and the Dniprovskyi-5 dredger. Work began at a mark of 2.6 meters, but three years later the vessels were withdrawn from the port area at a mark of 1.8 meters.

As previously reported by USM, on July 23, an explosion occurred on a dredger belonging to the Delta-pilot branch of the State Enterprise “USPA”. The vessel was at the mouth of the Bystre River to carry out scheduled work with 11 crew members. Three people died.