The watermelons will be unloaded at NIBULON’s transshipment terminal in Kyiv region and will be supplied to distribution networks; the non-self-propelled vessel will be loaded with grain.
Last year, Head of Kherson Regional State Administration Andrii Hordieiev noted that water transportation of goods grown in Kherson region was one of the most urgent issues for Kherson agricultural producers. According to him, the logistics infrastructure created by NIBULON and the opportunity to transport Kherson melons, fruit, and vegetables to the north of Ukraine, and even to Belarus, will become a sharp intake of breath for the Left-bank Kherson region.
General Director of NIBULON Oleksiy Vadaturskyy supported this idea. In June 2017, 28 local farmers, NIBULON, Silpo retail chain, and Chemonics International Inc., with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), signed an agreement on cooperation at NIBULON’s transshipment terminal in Hola Prystan town as part of a pilot project “Creating an effective logistic chain of fruit and vegetables delivery”. 
Kherson farmers expect that a new way to deliver fruit and vegetables from the south of Ukraine to the north can significantly reduce their losses and help to expand the markets for seasonal fruit and vegetables.
“Today we have witnessed a historical event – revival of waterway to Kyiv to transport our melons. This is the first batch from our fields, from our farmers. As it is said, “From farm to Kyiv”. It was a crazy idea. When NIBULON’s terminal was being designed, we had an idea to introduce this experience, revive traditions, and deliver high-quality products to our citizens in Kyiv and then to Belarus.  I am grateful to NIBULON’s General Director Oleksiy Vadaturskyy who has promised to provide logistics for this project and kept his word. I am grateful to farmers who have joined together to implement this project. We will surprise our countrymen, Ukrainians, Kyiv residents. This will be a step we need: on the one hand, our agrarians should be sure that there will be a market to sell their goods; on the other hand, our citizens should be provided with the necessary high-quality products”, stressed Andrii Hordieiev.
There was a berth on the site where NIBULON has built its new transshipment terminal this year; watermelons were loaded on non-self-propelled vessels at this berth. But the last cargo trip of non-self-propelled vessel loaded with watermelons along the Dnipro River was performed in 2003. Therefore, local farmers were very enthusiastic about the revival of melon transportation by water. This cheapens delivery of their products to the north of Ukraine by 40%.
“Dreams come true. They come true if a person works hard and does everything to make them come true. As for commercial benefits, then count: the cost of watermelon transportation by road transport comprises UAH 1,000 per each ton, and we make the transportation cheaper. At present it is a social project, since we have a lot of things to improve”, said General Director of NIBULON Oleksiy Vadaturskyy.
Because of lack of alternative modes of transportation, the transportation costs for road transport increase by 2 –2.5 times in a “high season”; difficulties with logistics and marketing cause the situation when about 30% of watermelon crop is left on fields. 
At present, the project initiators are checking the way the mechanism will work because many parties are involved in this process; we are working out modern logistics and packaging standards, calculating costs and transportation time. If everything happens as it was planned, there will be other vessels performing such trips. Upon completion of the pilot project, this logistic chain will be applied to other fruit and vegetables grown in Kherson region. The crop will be transported the same way – in special boxes. The demand for transportation of fruit and vegetables from the south to the north of Ukraine is enormous.
According to Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, the company can perform at least 50 cargo trips of 1,000 tons –50,000 tons of various agricultural products per season. NIBULON can remove these cargoes from the roads of Ukraine and transport it by river transport, which is more efficient, profitable, and environmental friendly. As for watermelons, there will be less damage during transportation, less loss. Rivers are better than asphalt – there are no pits.  
Usually, when watermelons are loaded in bulk, 10-13% of them are mechanically damaged; packaging and transportation standards are not maintained. But the supply chain started under this project will help to solve most of these problems.
The first batch of about 300 tons of watermelons shipped from Hola Prystan will be delivered to Kyiv within 5-6 days. Watermelons were put into special boxes at fields, and the trucks brought them to the terminal. Here they are unloaded, placed in frames that the crane carries and puts in a non-self-propelled vessel. 
Each batch will undergo thorough check with the help of laboratory equipment. Watermelons are checked for nitrates, salt of heavy metal, radionuclides. Kherson agrarians offer both well-known types of watermelons and relatively new ones – seedless watermelons.  
“The laboratory of our terminal can determine GMO, pesticides, nitrates presence in agricultural products. There is the most modern equipment in our laboratory. We can do this and provide all the information. Therefore, buy Kherson watermelons without nitrates, pesticides, and GMO!”, called on Oleksiy Vadaturskyy.