State budget receives 90 per cent of portcharge, leaving the rest for investment — Shirokov

The policy of port charges and financial burden on the cargo base is the main work constraint. This was informed by Maxim Shirokov, General Manager of the terminal group Risoil S.A., in the framework of the international Grain Ukraine conference.

According to him, 90 per cent of the port charges support the state budget, rather than investments in the port industry.

“There are two ways out: the European method when the port charges are used for financing only current expenses and maintenance of the port infrastructure, or the policy when the development of the port infrastructure is financed by shipowners and cargo owners, which we have today, then the amount of port charges will remain high,” says the General Manager.

As Maxim Shirokov notes, the development of infrastructure under the European method will be promoted by the business independently and relying on the attracted financing. Consequently, port charges will be significantly reduced due to the absence of an investment component in the fee.

As previously reported, more than 70 per cent of grain rail cars in Ukraine are quarter-century-old and the market participants are well aware of the situation.

The infographic guide Agribusiness of Ukraine 2017/18 is available by the link.