NIBULON’s deputy general director of trade and logistics Oleksandr Grygorenko responds to the comment of the People’s Deputy of Ukraine Artem Ilyuk, posted on prestupnosti.net website on July 28, 2015.
NIBULON is one of a few companies in Ukraine that conducts regular and multiple measures to reduce traffic load on highways in Mykolayiv and Ukraine. I will explain in order to understand this situation better.
Firstly, the Ukrainian grain market is a highly competitive one. In addition to NIBULON, there are 7 points for taking grains and oilseeds in Mykolayiv city, namely Mykolayiv Port Elevator (trader – the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine), Nika-Tera (traders – Noble and Louis Dreyfus), Grintureks (trader – Bunge), Nikmorservice (trader – Cargill), Mykolayiv Bread Product Center PJSC (trader – Virtus), AGROALFATERMINAL (trader – Argo Export Group), Ekotrans (trader – Kernel-Trade). These companies can take in total up to 1,500 trucks per day.
Thus, it becomes obvious that NIBULON is not the only company in Mykolayiv that takes and ships for export grain cargoes.
Secondly, thousands of transit trucks drive through our city daily.
What does NIBULON do in order to reduce traffic load on highways and technogenic impact on the environment?
Annually, NIBULON invests its own funds to repair road surface. In the first seven months of 2015, the company spent more than UAH 2.3 million for these purposes. The company repaired in total 9,000 square meters of roadway.
In addition, the company maintains roads adjacent to its production facilities, removing rubbish and watering them several times per day. NIBULON purchased a sprinkling truck.
We made special sites so that trucks may not disturb the citizens. The drivers can take a shower and eat there.
Our company cooperates directly with agricultural producers, and they, as a rule, supply agricultural commodities in the evenings or nightly. The terminal is open on a 24-hour basis.
The quantity of products supplied to NIBULON’s transshipment terminal by highways reduces in favour of cargo transportation by water.
Since 2009, NIBULON has been implementing its investment project to revive Ukrainian rivers, re-opening them as transport waterways. It aims to reduce traffic load on highways in Ukraine and improve the environmental conditions.
As part of this project, the company has already constructed a network of its transshipment terminals along the Dnipro and the Southern Bug and built its own cargo fleet.
In particular, in June 2015, NIBULON launched three tugs designed for operating on the Southern Bug River. At present the company is actively building non-self-propelled vessels for operating along the Southern Bug as well.
This systemic approach brings positive results. In particular, in the navigation season of the 2014-15 marketing year, the company transported and shipped for export 1.5 million tons of grain cargoes. Thus, according to the most conservative estimates, due to NIBULON, the number of trucks on the Ukrainian highways was reduced by 47,000. NIBULON annually increases cargo transportation by water; thus, this results in the reduction of cargo transportation by highways.
Unfortunately, I cannot neglect the problem issues connected with the project implementation, as they directly impact not only on the efficiency thereof but also on ordinary Ukrainians, our citizens. This is the dredging of the Dnipro and the Southern Bug. These issues are extremely topical; thus, for example, the Southern Bug becomes waterlogged every year.
Our company itself tries to solve these problems, and in August will perform dredging in the area of the Southern Bug at its own expense. But these problems must be solved at governmental level by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine which constantly postpones them, finding new reasons for not doing this.
I would remind you, Mr. Artem Ilyuk, when the odious Party of Regions came to power and you were a part of it, there was done nothing to dredge the Dnipro and the Southern Bug. Instead of it, the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine purchased almost 500 trucks at the expense of the state budget. These very trucks drive along highways in Ukraine and transport grain, ignoring the air temperature and daylight. At that very time, weighting complexes appeared on the highways, and cargo carriers, except the trucks belonged to the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine, had to pay tens of millions of hryvnas for the enrichment of the former authorities. Repair and construction of roads has never come into question.
You did nothing to improve labour conditions of agricultural producers and the agrarian sector. And at present you offer not to take their products. They have the right to choose the most profitable conditions for them.
You did not allocate funds from excise duty to repair and construct roads. In other words, you have ample opportunities to be useful for Ukraine instead of banal populism. It is high time to work.
Mr. Artem Ilyuk, I want to stress that NIBULON is engaged in agribusiness and not in politics. Thus, you should not try to gain additional votes, by using the well-known Ukrainian company.”