Supervisory Board of USPA held its regular meeting in November 2019
The seventh regular meeting of the Supervisory Board of USPA took place in early November 2019, USPA says in a press release. This time, an offsite meeting format was chosen, which allowed for learning about leading ports of Odesa and Pivdennyi as well as discuss the concept Corporate Strategy of SE “USPA” 2025 with representatives of local authorities of Odesa region and port society.
According to Patrick Verhoeven, the Deputy Head of the Supervisory Board of USPA, the Enterprise’s having started a constructive dialogue about USPA development plans for the nearest 5 years with Odesa Region authorities and other port cities as well as the business operating in the sea ports, is a very important step forward. It is extremely meaningful given that after corporatization (which makes one of the key components of 2025 strategy of the enterprise) is completed, USPA will get all the necessary tools for the integrated port development, namely, through establishing port development companies jointly with municipalities. This will allow for adopting coordinated decisions and having comprehensive approaches towards projects implementation, accommodating interests of all the stakeholders, including the State, local authorities and businesses.
“The concept Corporate Strategy of USPA is based on three pillars that are strongly interconnected: corporatisation, the transformation to a landlord configuration and community integration. The latter implies a close stakeholders’ dialogue. Our visit to Odesa region marked the start of this process, with constructive discussions held with both business and governmental stakeholders”- as Patrick Verhoeven, the Deputy Head of the Supervisory Board of USPA, said.
The Supervisory Board members participated in the meeting of the Port Council of Pivdennyi sea port, where they had an opportunity to get a feedback on the concept Corporate Strategy of USPA from the largest stevedoring companies as well as cargo owners.In general, the key idea of the concept Corporate Strategy stating transformation of USPA from the asset-holder to a port developing company was welcomed by the port society. In particular, it was noted that implementation of the “landlord port” model which would take into account peculiarities of private and leased land plots will contribute to the well-balanced land planning having regard to port operators’ development plans as well as perspective projects of cities and regions where the ports are operating.
“One of the most important subject matters of our meeting in Pivdennyi was discussion of performance-boosting capabilities of the Ukrainian port system when introducing high standards applied in major international sea ports. Engaging correspondent stakeholders, active participants of this system, into such process makes an important part thereof. Meetings with Ukrport Association, the Maritime Chamber of Ukraine, associations of ship owners and maritime agencies, Pivdennyi Port Council, as well as the Governor of Odesa region and Mayor of Odesa proved their readiness for and interest in both cooperation and further discussion”- as Wolfgang Hurtienne, the independent member of the Supervisory Board of USPA, remarked.
Port industry representatives also voiced their approval as for the matter of fixing the dividends rate for USPA in the amount of no more than 30% at the legislative level, which is stipulated in the draft Law on Corporatization of USPA that was also brought into public discussion by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine. This will allow for funding port infrastructure development projects, especially in the ports that provide the greatest amount of revenues from port dues.
According to Jan van Schoonhoven, the independent member of the Supervisory Board, the highly professional and constructive dialogue, which took place at the beginning of November in Odesa region, was similar to those held in the Netherlands. It was useful for further successful transformations and contributed to improvement of Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority’s operation. The proposals and comments provided during the meetings will be definitely taken into account.
“The USPA Supervisory Board members are fully engaged in the processes of the Enterprise transformation. A three-day trip to Odesa and Yuzhnyi proved that all the Supervisory Board members share a common vision of both further development of the enterprise and building business relationships with key stakeholders. I am certain that team approach is bound to succeed”- summarized Dmytro Barinov, the Head of the Supervisory Board of USPA.