Ukraine's State Property Fund preparing to privatize one of Danube ports

MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - Ukraine's State Property Fund plans to resume the privatization of port infrastructure on the Danube River and is preparing to put a facility, which is now being used as a dry port, up for sale, Ukrainian media cited the fund's head Vitaly Koval as saying at a Business Breakfast event on Wednesday.

"It is relevant to continue the privatization of our Danube ports. We already have a record of privatizing one port. We are preparing another one. It is now functioning as a dry port," Koval said, without naming the port Ukraine is planning to sell into private hands.

As reported earlier, the fund was preparing to put the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Commercial Sea Port up for sale. It was expected to become the second large port infrastructure facility to be privatized via the Prozorro platform since the start of the crisis, according to the fund's website.

The Belgorod-Dnestrovsky port has been used as a logistics center for Danube River ports since April 1, 2022. It accepts shipments transported by road and sends them on by rail. The enterprise began shipping grain, transshipping iron-ore pellets and reloading metal products in May. Cargo processing by the port grew 100 times compared to 2021 over the six months after it resumed operations. The port accepted more than 10,000 trucks and shipped cargo in 4,000 railcars, considerably easing the burden on road infrastructure and the Izmail and Reni ports. All of the products handled by the port were intended for export. The enterprise was unprofitable before the crisis.

The State Property Fund earlier sold the integral property complex of the Ust-Dunaisky port via the Prozorro platform for 200 million hryvni. Its price tripled during the auction.