Ukraine's Nibulon to modernize grain elevators

MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax) - Nibulon, one of the leading companies on Ukraine's grain market, has begun modernizing its elevators, Ukrainian media reported the company as saying on social media.

The modernization will involve automation and unification of services, as well as the significant expansion of Nibulon's Khmilnyk branch, AK Vradiivskyi Ltd., Kolosivskyi elevator, and Transshipment Terminal, the company said.

Investment in the modernization of the Khmilnyk branch in Vinnitsia region, where there are plans to build a second stage of the elevator with four silos and new transport equipment, will total $3.9 million.

The company will also install two Strahl grain dryers, which will increase drying capacity to 2,200 tonnes per day from zero, and plans to start working with other farmers at this branch, which previously only served the needs of Nibulon's own agricultural production.

Investment in the first stage of modernization at AK Vradiivskyi Ltd. in Nikolayev region will amount to $800,000. It will double capacity and reconfigure shipping and receiving to work with several crops simultaneously, reducing wait times for both Nibulon's farmers and partners.

The company said it plans to spend $265,000 on the first stage of the reconstruction of the Kolosivskyi elevator in Nikolayev region, with a focus on doubling grain shipping and receiving capacity.

Nibulon plans to invest $720,000 in its Transshipment Terminal in Nikolayev, where it intends to build a new gallery that will enable the terminal to receive cargo from water transport and transfer it to trains for subsequent delivery to the Bessarabska branch. This will reduce logistics costs on the way to Izmail ports.

Nibulon also said it has "plans to automate all elevators, to equip them with sensors that will record the operating resource of the equipment and automatically transmit this data to a unified dispatch center." As a result, the company expects "to increase the efficiency of the elevator department through optimization and automation, reduce the cost of services due to rational use of resources [...]."

Nibulon, which was founded in 1991, previously owned 27 transshipment terminals and complexes for receiving crops with combined storage capacity of 2.25 million tonnes, and a fleet of 83 vessels. The company also owned the Nikolayev Shipyard, cultivated 82,000 hectares of land and exported agricultural products to over 70 countries. The company now operates at about 30% of capacity.