The World Bank experts, upon the request of the Ministry of Infrastructure and with the active participation of the team of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, have completed their work to present the results of the study on the prospects for strengthening Ukraine’s port sector governance, USPA says in a press release.
The authors have thoroughly analyzed the world experience of the transformation in the port management mechanism, as well as Ukrainian realities, and addressing the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority concluded that in the process of further reformation of the port industry it is appropriate to bring it closer to the landlord port management model.
The study describes the port industry of Ukraine as a maritime nation that is of systemic importance to the rest of the world as a supplier of basic food products, metallurgical cargo and, most recently, as an importer and exporter of containerized goods.
Much attention has been paid to the experience of implementing the landlord port model in different countries of the world and its contextualized application in Ukraine. Having considered the international experience of a more established port authorities’ control over port territories, the study examines real port land management practices in the “new” EU Member States of Eastern Europe, which used to have similar conditions to Ukraine at the beginning of their reform paths: Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Poland, Croatia, the Baltic States.
At the same time, according to the World Bank analysts, the current situation in Ukrainian ports does not fit into any of the four classic models of the port sector management. Based on the example of the Pivdennyi port, the experts illustrated fragmented land ownership and land use in sea ports (allocated between local authorities, regional state administrations, private entities). “In order to attract new investments and implement large-scale port infrastructure development projects, it is necessary to streamline land relations in ports,” – the experts say.
Opportunities for the consolidation of land ownership and land use control have been presented within the framework of the legislation of Ukraine in the context of possible forms and legal aspects related to the planning and development of port land.
The final section of the study provides an analysis of possible ways of reforming Ukraine's port industry and, in particular, of the ports of strategic importance, as well as the corporatization of USPA as a means to improve the effectiveness of management of Ukrainian sea ports.
Overcoming the fundamental shortcomings in the current management of the port industry in Ukraine through reform is not an easy task. “At the same time, it will create a unique opportunity for Ukraine – to benefit from the world experience and develop an individual, modern form of the sea ports management”, – the authors of the study summarize.