The refusal to sell port fleet of Odesa maritime merchandise port has resulted in 70 percent of port services accumulated by one operator, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said at the Ukrainian Infrastructure Forum in Kyiv on April 20.
“When we announced the arrival of DP World to Ukraine, the first stage of this was to be purchase of port fleet of Odesa seaport. Then media speculated the issue a lot: we are selling the last national asset of Ukraine, the game is up, and the port will die. In fact, the port has been in private hands for a long period of time through leasing and other tools. Actually today a private company that has taken over 70 percent of cargos is operating at Odesa seaport and very few people seem to care of it,” he said, not disclosing the name of the operator.
The minister said that Ukraine in this case could attract $50 million of investment and an international port operator.
“We did not want to do this. I hope that the situation would not repeat with the Yuzhny port, as it would be a shame,” he said.
