The German Embassy assists CTO, subsidiary of the largest German investor in Ukraine's port industry. This was stated by Anka Feldhusen, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine, during her visit to the port of Odessa.
The distinguished guest visited the new production facilities of the container terminal at the Quarantine Mall, which is operated by the CTO-Container Terminal Odessa, a subsidiary of the leading German logistics concern HHLA (Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG), the port of Hamburg.
Oleksandr Holodnytskyi, the Head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, Maksym Lapay, Head of the Odessa Port Administration, as well as representatives of the top management of CTO: Philip Sweens, President of the Company, and Anastas Kokkin, CEO, spoke with the head of the Embassy of Germany and Svetlana Yarovaya, Vice President of Social Political Relations.
Anka Feldhusen inquired about the current state of affairs in implementing the investment project and the prospects for the resumption of construction of one of its main components - a protective breakwater.
"More than a thousand German companies in Ukraine are united in the German-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. And we, as an embassy, ââare interested both in the stable operation of these companies and in attracting new ones. And this is impossible without improving the investment climate. Therefore, we work closely with the Ukrainian government on such global issues as judicial reform, improving the tax system, trying to help bring the conditions of business development in Ukraine closer to European standards", said Anka Feldhusen
The year 2021 became decisive in promoting the revised project to construct a new quarantine pier terminal, which also envisages the construction of a protective breakwater.
"In one of her interviews, the Ambassador said that 'a successful Ukraine is first and foremost a successful economy.' The administration of seaports, together with its partners, its stakeholders, illustrates this conclusion with concrete cases. The breakwater construction project passed the state construction examination according to the estimated cost, strength, and reliability of the hydraulic structure. A positive result was obtained. From day to day, we expect that the Minister of Infrastructure will sign the approval of this project. Also, today the bids were opened, and soon the winner of the tender for construction works will be determined. So, everything is going according to schedule, and December 2021 on our joint road map with SE "CTO" is the beginning of construction work." said Oleksandr Holodnytskyi.
The German investor, in turn, equips new production facilities with lifting and handling and transport equipment, builds new warehouses.
"The new warehouse, which we have just completed, has significantly expanded the terminal area and increased our capacity to attract traffic and create new services for our customers. Now, we plan further investments in the development of the terminal and the railway transport infrastructure, which will connect the seaport with the leading industrial regions of Ukraine. economic relations between Germany and Ukraine", said Philip Sweens.
The visit of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine, H.E. Anka Feldhusen, to the port of Odessa took place in a constructive and businesslike atmosphere. The parties discussed specific measures that will allow completing the implementation of one of the largest public-private partnership projects in the maritime complex of Ukraine with the participation of an influential foreign investor.
CTO has been operating the Odessa port container terminal at the Quarantine Mall since July 2001 and is the undisputed leader of the Ukrainian container market. For 20 years, the German company has invested more than 170 million euros in developing production facilities of the port of Odessa. In just 20 years of operation, more than 6.2 million containers (TEUs) have been processed, and a total of more than 2.8 billion hryvnias in taxes and fees have been paid to the budgets of all levels.