Having studied and taken into account the best experience of leading countries in use of inland water transport, the leader of Ukrainian agrarian market revives navigation on the Dnipro River and the Southern Buh River on its own. NIBULON says it actively redirects its cargo flows to river transport, bringing the volumes of cargo transported by water up to 2.5 million tons per year.
In 2017/18 MY, NIBULON’s shipping company transported 2.5 million tons along the inland waterways of Ukraine, having removed more than 108,000 trucks from the roads. During this navigation season, NIBULON has performed 230 cargo trips along the Dnipro River and the Southern Buh River, having transported about 700,000 tons of grain and oilseeds.
NIBULON managed to achieve such record figures thanks to effective and well-organized work of the company’s specialists, as well as thanks to the successful investment program to revive the Dnipro River and the Southern Buh River as the main transport arteries of Ukraine. NIBULON has been implementing this program jointly with the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and other international financial institutions. After a 25-year decay of the Southern Buh River, NIBULON has managed to revive navigation on the area of 134 km of the waterway and to transport more than 1 million tons of grain along this river.
As part of the above-mentioned program, the company also constructs its transshipment terminals along the Dnipro River and constructs complete unique vessels at its own modernized shipbuilding and repair yard. In the coming years, NIBULON plans to construct a fleet of 100 vessels in order to transport 4 million tons per year along the rivers. We set a target of 3 million tons in 2018/19 MY, and 4 million tons in 2019/20 MY. The management of NIBULON is convinced that Ukraine has great potential for redirecting its own logistics infrastructure to water transport if the state creates proper conditions for the development of Ukrainian navigation and shipbuilding.
NIBULON also transports other cargoes, besides grain. In 2017, NIBULON’s fleet delivered Kherson watermelons to Kyiv. And in April 2018, it transported the first batch of Ukrainian metal along the river, as well as building materials (piles) to “Kremenchuts’ka” branch (Poltava region).
The annual increase in production figures, in particular the volumes of transportation by inland waterways, proves not only significant successes in the investment program implementation, but also the efficiency of NIBULON’s investments.