Ukraine's Belgorod-Dniestrovsky sea port sold for $6 mln
MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) - Vitaly Kropachev's Ukrdoninvest LLC has won a repeat auction for the sale by the State Property Fund of Ukraine of the Belgorod-Dniestrovsky Commercial Sea Port in the Odessa region.
The winner offered UAH 220,000,001 or $6 million at the current exchange rate, starting price of UAH 93.787 million, Ukrainian media reported, quoting the Ukrainian Prozorro system, the electronic platform of which held the auction.
Other bidders included Port Akkerman LLC, which refused to bid more than the starting price, and PJSC Mostobud YuA, which was also ready to pay UAH 220 million, but lost due to a lower initial offer bid of UAH 94.725 million, against UAH 122.8 million by Ukrdoninvest.
A first auction scheduled for March 3 with a starting price of UAH 187.57 million did not take place.
Ukrdoninvest also bid at an auction in January this year for the sale of the port of Ust-Dunaisk in the Odessa region and was ready to pay just over UAH 200 million, but lost to Elixir Ukraine LLC, which is associated with grain trader Vimexim, whose initial offer was higher.
The port is located on the right bank of the Dniester Estuary, which is 42 km long and 4.5 to 12 km wide, and is connected by a strait to the Black Sea. The distance to Odessa is 80 km.
The State Property Fund said earlier that the port was unprofitable, despite the fact that since 2022 it has played an important role as a logistics center for ports on the Danube. According to the Fund, the port has great potential for the development of Ukrainian exports and requires investment in its development.
The Belgorod-Dniester port suspended operations in spring 2022, but in April, it re-opened in a new capacity - as a transport and logistics center for the Izmail, Reni and Ust-Danube Ukrainian ports. There are open cargo warehouses on its territory with an area of 180,000 sq. m. and covered cargo warehouses with an area of 12,500 sq. m., including ramps for railway cars and grain warehouses. The center is a customs territory with a full range of cargo handling services.
The Belgorod-Dniestrovsky port also has an extensive system of railway tracks with a 60-wagon storage siding and closed TIR parking for 200 vehicles.
Since May 2022, the enterprise has been shipping grain as well as transshipping iron ore pellets and metal products. In the six months since resuming operations, cargo handling at the port has increased 100 times compared to the same period in 2021. The port received more than 10,000 trucks and shipped out 4,000 railcars.
The port also specializes in the transshipment of timber cargo, mineral fertilizers, iron ore pellets, metal products and grain cargo.
Vessels enter via the approach channel of the Dniester-Tsaregorodsky duct, which is 1.5 km long and the Dniester-Limansky part, 14.5 km. long. The depth of the approach channel is 3 m, or 3.5-4.5 m per its passport. A single property complex is located on the territory of 64.4 hectares.