Ukraine News

Ukraine-based Informall Business Group in its latest Black Sea Container Market review reports a rise of 8.70% in loaded containers handling in the Black Sea container ports of Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia in 2018 as compared to 2017.Black Sea container terminals of the five countries handled 2927016 TEU in 2018, including empty containers, excluding transshipment. This review observes only full containers of the region – 2188153 TEU.In 2018, there was a laden container turnover increase in all countries of the Black Sea region.

German port operator Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) increased its Group revenue by 3 percent to EUR 1.29 billion in the 2018 financial year (previous year: EUR 1.25 billion). The Group’s operating result (EBIT) of EUR 204 million (previous year: EUR 173 million) represents an increase of 18 percent.In total, 7.3 million standard containers (TEU) were handled at HHLA’s container terminals in the 2018 financial year. Compared to 7.2 million TEU in the previous year, this…

Ten crew members have been found dead and 14 have been rescued after two ships caught fire in the Kerch Strait near Crimea, Russia's transport ministry said on Monday, with a rescue operation still underway.The ministry said earlier on Monday that crew members were jumping into the sea to escape the blaze, which probably broke out during a ship-to-ship fuel transhipment.Both ships were under the Tanzanian flag - Candy (Venice) and Maestro - and had a combined total of 31 crew members. Of them, 16 were Turkish citizens and 15 from India, it said.An industry source told Reuters there were stormy conditions in the sea when the incident happened.The Kerch Strait between Russian-annexed Crimea and southern Russia controls access from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea…

Croatia's largest shipbuilder Uljanik, which is trying to attract investors to stay afloat, extended a due diligence process until late next week after drawing the interest of potential strategic partners.Croatia's Economy Minister Darko Horvat said four potential investors were looking at Uljanik's business data and another company was also interested, but did not elaborate."I expect at least two serious offers for Uljanik at the end of this process which would then prevent its bankruptcy…

Russian state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot said on Tuesday that uncertain conditions in the freight market are delaying its long-planned initial public offering (IPO).The Russian government has weighed a listing of Sovcomflot for years as part of broader privatization plans, but obstacles ranging from weak markets to international sanctions placed on Russians over Moscow's role in Ukraine crisis have prevented an IPO.The Russian economy ministry has said it had hoped to raise…

A cargo ship sank in rough waters off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Monday, killing six crew members including its captain, officials and media reports said.Seven other crew members were rescued  by Turkish Coast Guard teams after a Panama-flagged vessel sank in the Black Sea off Turkey's northern Samsun province.According to a statement released by the Interior Ministry, coastguard teams were dispatched off 77 miles Samsun after receiving a distress call from the Volgo Balt 214.Thirteen crew members…

Two people died and another four were missing on Monday after a ship carrying coal sent a distress signal off the northern coast of Turkey, the coast guard and the local governor's office said.The Panama-flagged vessel, which departed from Russia's Azov port, sent out a distress signal around 148 kilometers (92 miles) off the northeastern Black Sea province of Samsun, the coast guard said.Thirteen crew members were on the bulk carrier including nine Ukraine nationals, two Azerbaijan nationals and two Russians, the Samsun governor's office said.The coast guard said the distress signal was received regarding a "possible sinking" of the ship.Seven members of the crew had been rescued so far while a search and rescue operation continued for the other four, the coast guard said.

Eastern European country Ukraine has acceded to an important International Maritime Organization (IMO) ship safety treaty – the 1988 Protocol relating to the International Convention on Load Lines.Limitations on the draught to which a ship may be loaded make a significant contribution to the ship's safety, said a press release from IMO.These limits are given in the form of freeboards, which constitute, besides external weathertight and watertight integrity, the main objective of the Convention.

Russia-Ukraine naval clash followed shipping holdups Ships bound for Ukrainian ports say they are held up while those bound for Russian ports go through.When the Island Bay cargo ship arrived from Beirut at the Kerch Strait, gateway to the Azov Sea, it sailed into a perfect storm of geopolitics and bad weather.The following day, Russia opened fire on three Ukrainian naval ships, impounded them and detained their sailors, some of them wounded. It then blocked the strait by putting a tanker underneath a new bridge it has built linking the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.While the world digested the implications of the Nov.

Russia on Monday ignored Western calls to release three Ukrainian naval ships it fired on and captured near Crimea at the weekend and accused Kiev of plotting with its Western allies to provoke a conflict.Kiev in turn accused Russia of military aggression and put its armed forces on full combat alert, saying it reserved the right to defend itself. Ukrainian lawmakers were due to decide whether to introduce martial law for two months later on Monday, a move President Petro Poroshenko…

Workers at Croatia's largest shipbuilding group Uljanik on Monday held their second strike in less than two months, this time over unpaid salary for September.In late August, the workers downed tools because of uncertainty over payments for July and August. Those two months' salaries were secured after the government reached a deal with a local bank.Uljanik owns two docks, with some 4,000 workers, located in the northern Adriatic cities of Pula and Rijeka. Some 1,500 started a…

The Port of Hamburg and Metrans Group are intensifying their links with Lithuanian Railways. Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Port of Hamburg Marketing, and Egidijus Lazauskas, Deputy Director-General and Director Freight Traffic for Lithuanian Railways, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Vilnius to strengthen cooperation on the routes to and from the Port of Hamburg.In addition, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG - HHLA’s intermodal subsidiary Metrans, and Lithuanian Railways signed a Letter of Intent to promote and improve cross-border freight flows.For years…

A Swiss-operated ship has been attacked off the coast of Nigeria, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said, amid media reports that 12 crew members had been kidnapped by a  gang of pirates.The MV Glarus, merchant ship operated by Geneva-based shipping company Massoel Shipping, was transporting wheat between Lagos and the southern Niger Delta oil hub of Port Harcourt.According to reports, the incident took place at about 45 nautical miles south west of Bonny Island. The pirates held 12 among the ship's staff members as hostages.According to West African nation's maritime agency…

International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s work to promote better understanding of - and steps to reduce - emissions in ports has reached Georgia, at a workshop for regional participants from Georgia, Ukraine and Turkey.The event, in Batumi (10-12 September) focused on how to undertake emissions inventories and calculate emissions, including  GHGs and air pollutants. Participants were also introduced to strategies to address emissions from different sources – such as from seagoing vessels…

Environmental campaign group ClientEarth has filed a complaint with a court in Sweden to block the construction through Swedish waters of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline intended to transport Russian gas to Germany, it said on Wednesday.Sweden approved the pipeline in June, but ClientEarth's complaint argues that the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation failed to consider the impact the project would have on wildlife in the Baltic Sea.The work involves detonating World…

The U.S.

Some Russian ships have stopped transporting cargo to Ukraine, deeming it risky after a Russian tanker was detained in a Ukrainian port as Kiev made good on sanctions against Moscow, two sources at shipowners said.It is the latest fallout from Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the emergence of a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine.The Mekhanik Pogodin oil tanker, under the Russian flag, has been moored in the port of Kherson since Aug. 10, Reuters ship…

U.S. President Donald Trump expects the European Union to fund 9 to 11 liquefied natural gas (LNG) ports to absorb "vastly" more shipments from the United States but current EU investment in new projects will only help open small markets.In a White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte late on Monday, Trump said part of the U.S.-EU trade talks sought to expand America's reach into the continent's gas markets which were awash in Russian supply."And we are already talking to the European Union about building anywhere from 9 to 11 ports…

At least two countries have struck cargo vessels off their registries in recent weeks after the ships were involved in transporting grains from Crimea to Syria, maritime officials told Reuters.Crimea has been under Western sanctions since it was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014 and has been frozen out of many export markets. That leaves Syria, which has also been targeted by sanctions, as an ideal trading partner for Crimea, given that the latter is open to receiving goods…

Identifying organisms and microbes in ballast water, as well as monitoring port marine life where ballast water may be released, are key for countries preparing to enforce International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Ballast Water Management Convention. The treaty entered into force globally on 8 September 2017 and aims to counter the threat to marine ecosystems by potentially invasive species transported in ships' ballast water. A regional workshop in Batumi, Georgia (3-5 July)…

Danish shipping and logistics company DFDS is to sell two of its older vessels to Ukraine-based ferry operator Ukrferry. "DFDS has entered into an agreement with Ukrferry to sell two combined freight and passenger ferries, Kaunas Seaways and Vilnius Seaways built in 1989 and 1987 respectively. Delivery of the ferries is expected in July," said a press statement from the company. The ferries have been on time charter to Ukrferry for several years for deployment on routes in the Black Sea. The ferries were previously deployed in DFDS' Baltic route network.

Vietnam's government has approved a decision to resume imports of Ukrainian wheat after about a two-year pause, Ukrainian grain traders union UZA said on Tuesday.Vietnam suspended purchases of Ukrainian wheat in 2015 after it found weevils in grain parcels delivered with fake phytosanitary certificates."The decision has been made to resume imports of Ukrainian wheat and to carry out strict phytosanitary control during the importation of grain from Ukraine," UZA said in a statement.Ukraine is among the world's leading wheat producers and exporters and has exported about 16 million tonnes so far

DemandThe improved fundamentals during 2017 are clearly seen in the freight rate levels during the first four months of 2018. Freight rates for Handysize, Supramax and Panamax went up by 25-27 percent as compared to the same period of last year. All three sectors moved from loss-making average earnings in the full year of 2017 to a profitable level in first four months of 2018.Meanwhile, capesize freight rates improved by only 5 percent as compared to the same period last year…