What do we need to hurry for? We have the entire summer, autumn… The Minister of Infrastructure has more urgent and important issues such as a visit to New-York to participate in the forum, a few very interesting TV interviews, several posts on Facebook…
It has been twelve days since Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman instructed the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and the State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety to expeditiously process (the question raised in the company’s appeal about navigation opening on the Dnipro River) and to inform the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and NIBULON about the results. However, as you have understood, the problem is still unresolved…
Realizing that there is no time to wait, today our company, through the Deputy General Director for Interaction with Public Authorities Volodymyr Klymenko, has addressed itself to the Minister of Infrastructure. We asked when the navigation on the Dnipro River would be opened. The Minister replied that the ice campaign was not finished, after that the locks would be inspected and the Shipping Register of Ukraine would open the navigation on the river. Mr. Minister, you will be surprised, but there is no ice on the Dnipro River. Please look at the photos taken on March 9.
“Khortytsia” branch (Zaporizhzhia region)
“Kamianka-Dniprovs’ka” branch (Zaporizhzhia region)
“Holoprystans’ka” branch (Kherson region)
“Kozats’ka” branch (Kherson region)
“Kremenchuts’ka” branch (Poltava region)
And the state enterprise of waterways Ukrvodshliakh replied to our request. It replied with a letter No. 04-13/42 dated 01.03.2018 saying that Kakhovka, Zaporizhzhia and Dniprodzerzhynsk locks were technically ready for 2018 navigation opening on March 1. Thus, there is no ice almost throughout the navigable path; the locks have been inspected… What’s the matter?
Maybe the thing is that someone has not paid someone and, accordingly, it doesn’t receive the right paper. Is this the manifestation of those corrupt schemes our Minister fights so fiercely against? By the way, in previous years our company paid Ukrvodshliakh for lockage services beforehand. The state enterprise paid the Shipping Register of Ukraine and other parties involved to prepare the locks and open navigation promptly.
Is the thing in a strong desire of some people to prevent NIBULON from transporting its cargoes by river? Do you lack time to organize the economic activity of the subordinate industry because of numerous interviews, round tables, forums?
Unlike the Minister, Oleksiy Vadaturskyy found time and on March 9, when the temperature raised above zero, to inspect the situation on the rivers. In the video filmed by NIBULON’s General Director you can see the dredger that was built last year operating on the Southern Buh River and performing the second stage of dredging works, as well as a tug and two non-self-propelled vessels transporting grain and thereby saving the roads and the state money for road repairs. In two months of 2018, we transported more than 70 thousand tons of grain cargoes along the Southern Buh River (thanks to our company, almost 3,000 trucks were removed from the highways).
By the way, it can be seen in the video that the navigable path was covered with ice on that day, but our vessels are built to operate on the Southern Buh River, have ice class enabling them to operate safely and freely in ice brush of up to 30 cm. The non-self-propelled vessels and the POSS-115 tugs (the vessels of LP and LP4 class that were built for operation on the Dnipro River) are capable of operating safely on the river with ice cover of up to 60 cm.
In addition, there are no locks on the Southern Buh River and consequently there are no Minister’s reasons to forbid us water transportation. But there are locks on the Dnipro River, as well as, unfortunately, the opportunities to manipulate the navigation season opening or ending. Thus, the Minister has been dreaming of something, and it’s been the fourth month since the potential of the Dnipro River is unused.
