Losses from the Kerch bridge construction reach UAH 500 million a year

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine estimates the losses from the construction of the Kerch bridge at UAH 500 million per year, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration (USPA) informed in the exclusive comment for Latifundist.com.

"Obviously, the forced use of smaller vessels directly affects the rise in the cost of logistics. Cargo owners bear additional costs because of forced downtime of merchant ships. And the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk will receive less profit due to problems that have arisen," the report says.

The construction of the Kerch bridge affected the passage of certain types of vessels that were proceeded in the Mariupol seaport and made it impossible to enter the Azov Sea for Panamax vessels, USPA stresses.

However, the restrictions have almost no effect on the shipment of grain and other agricultural cargo from the port, due to the fact that they are shipped in small ship lots, up to a maximum of 20 thou. tons. These restrictions affect the shipment of steel products and cast iron in the port of Mariupol.

"From 2013 to June 2018, Panamax vessels were not used for agricultural cargo transportation from the Mariupol sea port. For such produce, bulk carriers are mainly chartered," USPA reports.

Note: from 2013 to June 2018, 144 vessels entered the Mariupol sea port, which in their technical and operational characteristics are close to the Panamax type. This is 2.8% of the total number of calls that were made to the port of Mariupol during the specified period. The Mariupol sea port is capable of accepting vessels up to 240 m in length and up to 8 m draught of the following types: tankers, bulk carriers, container carriers, dry cargo vessels, universal, reefer, ro-ro, passenger, timber carrier.