Hero of Ukraine, General Director of NIBULON, the company which in addition to commodity cultivation and exports is engaged in shipbuilding and development of navigation, was also invited to the meeting of the Association.
During the meeting the participants discussed the main problems of development of maritime industry shipbuilding and navigation, as well as solutions. In particular, the President of Association of Shipbuilders Viktor Lysytskyi noted in his speech that the volumes of transportation by water transport and number of units of merchant fleet continued to decrease rapidly in Ukraine. More and more Ukrainian vessels fly the flags of foreign countries each year.
“In 1992, total deadweight of vessels in Ukraine comprised 6 million tons, in 2015 – 475 thousand tons, and last year it comprised only 450 thousand tons. According to information of the UN, Ukrainian vessels with the deadweight of more than 3.3 million tons fly the flags of other countries, mainly the Liberian one. In addition, more than 250 million tons of cargoes passed through our ports in 2016, only 7 million tons of them were under the Ukrainian flag”, stressed Viktor Lysytskyi.
The members of the Association noted that the government didn’t consider seriously the issue of shipping problems in the country. But without a system that supports this industry, we will have much less than 450 thousand tons.
In addition, as Oleksiy Vadaturskyy noted in his speech, possible adoption of the draft laws 2475A, 2712, 2713-d, some MPs are trying to push through the Verkhovna Rada, will put an end to Ukrainian shipping and shipbuilding. If these draft laws are adopted, vessels under foreign flags will be able to perform coastal shipping both between sea ports of Ukraine and along river waterways.  At the same time, if such vessels pay river due, they will be exempted from canal due, tonnage due, light due, sanitary due, and anchorage due. In addition, those vessels, whose captains have certificates for the right of navigation on inland waterways of Ukraine without pilots, will be released from pilotage. Given the above-mentioned information, vessels under the foreign flags will be able to use Ukrainian inland river waterways almost on equal terms with the vessels under the Ukrainian flag (at the rate of the river due proposed by the Committee on Transport of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine). However, foreign vessels will have an opportunity to bunker behind the 12-miles zone, without paying excise tax on fuel. Ultimately, they will have an advantage over the vessels under the Ukrainian flag, and the state budget will receive less money.
The introduction of the river due at the rate proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine will lead to significant rise in costs for transportation by vessels under the Ukrainian flag in coastal navigation.
Transportation of cargo by railway is already much cheaper compared to inland water transport. 
Thus, there is favouritism to vessels under foreign flags caused by the given draft laws, with no support to the Ukrainian inland water transport; it creates preconditions for the decline of the last.
The above-mentioned “innovations” that include exemption from customs duties on import of vessels into the customs territory for coastal transportation within Ukraine (draft law No. 2813-d) will favour the import of vessels that were used; this will have a negative impact on shipbuilding, and above all, will lead to:
˗ end of order at Ukrainian shipyards;
˗ loss of 5,500 jobs;
˗ reduction of shipyards’ payments to budgets and funds;
˗ unpredictable investment in shipbuilding.
Importation of a large number of old vessels into Ukraine, in the absence of the state program of their recycling and recycling payments to the budget, will also create additional risks for the environment of the waterways.
Thus, adoption of the given draft laws will have negative consequences for Ukraine’s economy, including the inland water transport and shipbuilding industry.
All participants of the extended meeting of the Association of Shipbuilders of Ukraine noted inadmissibility of the draft laws adoption. Although the draft law No. 2475A was sent for the second reading, it is too early to relax.
The participants of the meeting noted that it was necessary to involve community to resolve this problem. People must know about the consequences of the given draft laws adoption, including the draft law No. 2475 A; the main purpose of it is to create conditions for the formation of a constant cash flow out of the state budget, similar to that the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority receives. This flow will be controlled neither by the State Treasury nor by the Accounting Chamber; it will not replenish the state treasury. This flow will serve not the state but those who control the next Authority in the field of river transport. It will resolve neither problems of rivers dredging nor modernization of the locks of the Dnipro Cascade nor other problems of river transport in Ukraine.
It was also stressed during the meeting that the development of shipping and shipbuilding in Ukraine is impossible without highly qualified specialists we lack, especially blue-collar workers (welders, electricians, etc.)
“Other countries are more interested in us as shipbuilders. We have prepared 64 shipbuilders only for China, having visited the country with lectures. At present we cooperate with 9 provinces in China. We also consider Europe. We consider all the variants, but we want to train specialists for Ukraine”, noted a vice-rector of Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding Volodymyr Blintsov.
Job of a shipbuilder doesn’t attract young generation. Last year, as stated Volodymyr Blintsov, only 4 persons entered the specialty “Shipbuilding” at Mykolaiv Shipbuilding University. Thus, mean age of real professionals at the majority of Ukraine’s shipyards is over 60.
Upon the meeting completion, all its participants went to NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard at the invitation of NIBULON’s General Director Oleksiy Vadaturskyy to see the modernized production facilities of the shipyard and its work. The guests, who had already visited the shipyard, couldn’t but notice the drastic changes in a short period of time.
“I was here last year. The changes are certainly impressive. NIBULON is on the right track; so I wish it only success”, shared his impressions Anatolii Ovdii, a chairman of Kyiv Shipbuilding and Repair Yard PJSC.
In turn, President of Association of Shipbuilders of Ukraine UKRSUDPROM Viktor Lysytskyi added, “NIBULON chose rather promising model of its development. The company cultivates agricultural products and transports it by its self-built fleet along rivers that were dredged by its efforts. This is a nice move. If the rest of representatives of big business thought so, the situation in Ukraine’s maritime industry wouldn’t be so complicated”.
NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard is the only shipyard in Ukraine that builds complete vessels. Upon reconstruction and modernization of production facilities, the shipyard will build up to 15 vessels per year. This will be one of the best shipbuilding yards not only in Ukraine but also in Europe.