The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) has prepared the privatisation of the Ust-Dunaysk Commercial Seaport in the Odessa region, on the Danube river, which will be the first sale of a maritime port since Ukraine’s independence, as reported by the SPF website.

According to the report, the auction will be held on January 17 at Prozorro.sale. The starting price of 60 million UAH.

This year, Ust-Dunaysk began to play a crucial role in global food security. (…) It has great potential for the development of Ukrainian food exports. This requires investments that private business can bring.

Rustem Umerov, head of the SPFU

The State Property Fund noted that since the beginning of the port operation in war conditions it has transshipped 153 thousand tons of grain for export. In addition, Ust-Dunaisk handles imported cargo, such as salt and rice.

Since April 1, the port has handled 58.3 thousand tons of imported consumer goods.

At the same time in January-September 2022 Ust-Dunaisk received 848 thousand UAH of net profit. In January-November, it paid more than 9 million UAH of taxes to the budgets of all levels.

The port itself consists of three assets: a port in Vilkovo, Odessa region, port point Kilia in the city of the same name and a base of service of special ships lighter carriers on the island of Shabash.

Direct loading-unloading operations are carried out in port point Kiliya, located at 54th km of the Danube River. Passport depths at the pier – 3 meters, actual – 1.5 meters.

As reported, on November 11, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to expand the water area of three seaports on the Danube: the port in Izmail, Reni and the port of Ust-Dunaisk.