The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure will not liquidate the Danube Shipping Company and plans to invest USD 200 million in the transportation of goods along the Dnieper.

In previous months, politicians and officials of the Odessa region gathered round tables and used television to tell that the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company was going to be liquidated, every employee fired, and the entire fleet is donated to a Hungarian company. The reason for this frightening statements was the creation of a Hungarian operator, which will manage the fleet of the Danube Shipping Company. To clarify all the details, the mayor's office of Izmail sent a request to the Ministry of Infrastructure. The response received was posted by Mayor Andrey Abramchenko on Facebook.

The response says that the net income of the shipping company for 2020 amounted to 79 million hryvnia under the new management. This made it possible to launch a health insurance programme for employees and their families and non-state pension coverage. In 2020, a positive aspect was the resumption of ship repair and shipbuilding at the shipyards in Kiliya.

The Hungarian Business Shipping Company was set up to manage the shipping company's fleet, the Ministry said. Until now, cargo transportation activities were carried out by subsidiaries, which had part of the fleet on their balance sheets. Moreover, many companies are registered in Panamanian offshores without the ability to audit. The creation of the Business Shipping Company aimend to concentrate all management of the fleet in one European company and move it out of the offshore.

It is noted that all employees of the Danube Shipping Company retain their jobs, social standards and salaries. The Ukrainian Company is not planned to be liquidated, on the contrary, now they are preparing project documents for access to the transportation of goods along the Dnieper. The total investment in this area is USD 200 million.

Source and pictures: CULTUREMETER