Oleksii Savchenko, head of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration stated this during his participation in solemnities at NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard.
Four solemn events were held at the shipyard with the participation of leaders of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, Mykolaiv mayor, ambassadors of the EU countries, representatives of the EBRD, the EIB and other financial institutions, management of the USPA, thousands of local citizens. 
In particular, the largest exhibition of achievements and new developments in shipbuilding for the last decade was opened at NIBULON’s shipyard. More than 40 Ukrainian and foreign companies presented their stands.
“This exhibition is the biggest one in recent years. Mykolaiv is a center of shipbuilding in Ukraine. We give an impetus to these hopes, as there is shipbuilder blood in veins of every Mykolaiv resident”, noted NIBULON’s General Director, Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Vadaturskyy during the exhibition opening.
In addition, NIBULON’s shipyard also solemnly put its new workshop with an automated line for metal cleaning and priming and metal processing workshop with plasma cutting and gas cutting machines into operation. This is the most advanced foreign equipment; it meets the latest tendencies in shipbuilding and makes NIBULON a leader of the region in terms of equipment status of its shipbuilding facilities.
“My today’s presence here is very symbolic, as Belgian shipbuilders started construction of the first shipbuilding plant in Mykolaiv in 1895. That’s why I am very proud to observe the way NIBULON is reviving these shipbuilding traditions. Being representatives of Belgium we are delighted with the way Ukraine is bringing up this industry in its territory. The companies like NIBULON inspire Belgians to run business and invest in Ukraine”, said Luc Jacobs, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belgium to Ukraine, during solemn ceremony.  
According to Deputy Head of Mission at Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine Christoph Späti, NIBULON’s office in Neuchâtel is an important link between the Ukrainian company and leading banks, as well as traders from Switzerland, Europe and the entire world. “Only successful companies, such as NIBULON, can succeed in obtaining investment from foreign leading financial institutions. Long-term planning, creation of decent jobs, care of the employees, educational projects, care of the environment, cooperation with local communities. It would seem that we are talking about some kind of mega-modern company in the US or Central Europe. But this is NIBULON, and these features are peculiar for it”, said the diplomat during the solemn ceremony in Mykolaiv. According to him, thanks to the company’s projects, Ukraine can return to the big league of the leading maritime countries soon.
“We are pleased to note that NIBULON cooperates with a large number of foreign partners, shares its inexhaustible experience in this industry, and continues its development”, said Riny Bus, a representative of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine.
On this day, a tug was launched. It is the second vessel of the 121M project, and it was also named after Anatolii Hankevych, a famous shipbuilder and one of the directors of the shipyard in Mykolaiv.
“These tugs will work to revive the Dnipro River and the Southern Buh River, and I think that soon these tugs will sail along the Baltic Sea to pave the way between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea”, said Oleksiy Vadaturskyy.
“NIBULON is an outstanding example of the fact that the state should have its own fleet. I hope that using this example the state will find opportunities, overcome the obstacles, and begin to restore shipbuilding in Ukraine. I am grateful to NIBULON for revival of the traditions. I am confident that soon the vessels built by NIBULON will become a basis of Ukrainian navigation”, said the Head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration Oleksii Savchenko during solemnities
“It is extremely important for the city to create jobs, and the company is contributing to this process. The foresight and the state approach – the growth of the river and removal of pressure from the roads of Mykolayiv region – is the latest vision of the way how to develop the port infrastructure”, added Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.
According to Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, the project to revive shipbuilding to restore navigation along the Dnipro River and the Southern Buh River would be impossible without international partners who had entrusted their resources to the company. In particular, he reminded that in December 2016 NIBULON was the only private Ukrainian company that received USD 74 million without guarantees of the state. The agreement was signed in Brussels in the presence of the Vice-President of the European Commission. The company plans to receive USD 90 million from the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group) by the end of the year. The funds will be used to build terminals and develop the port infrastructure.
A large round-table discussion devoted to the problems of shipbuilding, development of inland waterways and the prospects for the development of NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard was also held at the shipyard as part of the solemnities. Its participants agreed that shipbuilding and water transportation are not the past of Ukraine and Mykolaiv but our future.
“We have recently discussed the draft law 2475A with the city heads of Kherson, Cherkasy, Kaniv, Kremenchuk”, said Oleksandr Sienkevych. “Our city opposed the introduction of this draft law. I am sure that if the river potential isn’t used now, then we will definitively kill the desire of investors to invest in the development of inland water transport if additional financial burden in the form of additional taxes is created. Therefore, together with other city mayors we have developed a position that this bill should not be supported by the Parliament”.
In turn, Oleksii Savchenko proposed to join forces and prepare an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada, “It’s about unreasonable port and canal dues I have spoke about with the head of the USPA Raivis Veckagans today. Mykolaiv region provides USD 129 million of revenues annually, but nothing is left here, and something must be done about this. It is necessary to redistribute money so that part of funds from the port dues left – a dollar or 50 cents from one ton. It is necessary to reduce the canal and the port dues. We should move this direction; otherwise, nothing will be changed”.
According to NIBULON’s Deputy General Director Andrii Vasiliev, the draft laws 2475A and 2712 are a threat to the development of the marine and river industry. It is about the creation of the SE River Waterways Authority by the example of the SE USPA, which has discredited itself a long time ago (there is a risk that this Authority may also become dependent on separate financial and industrial structures or oligarchs), and the introduction of river due, which can’t be found in any country, and the abolition of the existing legal regime for the regulation of coastal shipping by vessels under foreign flags (abolition of the legal regime that requires a foreign shipowner to get a one-time permit to perform transportation between the ports of Ukraine). “In fact, the final stage of removal of the Ukrainian fleet to offshore zone, aggravation of unemployment, as it is unlikely that a foreign shipowner will want to use the work of Ukrainian seamen and river transport men, may be the consequences of such draft laws adoption. The problem with the state budget replenishment due to failure to pay excise tax on oil products will also aggravate. The European countries adopted the laws that allow coastal shipping to vessels registered in one of the EU countries. That is, the European Union protects its economic sovereignty in the field of coastal shipping. The authors of these draft laws impose an opposite unpatriotic decision on us”, summarized Andrii Vasyliev.
NIBULON’s General Director Oleksiy Vadaturskyy stressed that the world community was ready to fully assist Ukraine to develop effective draft laws that would help Ukraine to make a breakthrough in this sector. The best international experts are working on it and are ready to provide such recommendations by September. But, unfortunately, the authors of these draft laws do not want to take into account the opinion of independent experts and the world experience.
“More than 50 people’s deputies have appealed to the Prime Minister today to unblock the issues on the Dnipro River dredging, locks repair, to remove payment for raise of drawbridges and the lock due, as it happens in all civilized countries”, said Oleksiy Vadaturskyy. “Ukraine generates enough funds to respect itself and make the rivers attractive. This will give impetus to shipbuilding”.
The representatives of foreign Embassies believe that the government should actively support such initiatives, because this is one of the elements of the state development. However, in Belgium, for example, they do not talk about competition of different types of transport in logistics, but about the intermodal solutions. Everything is interconnected, and it’s necessary to think about the efficiency of river transportation.
The participants of the round-table discussion emphasized that was precisely their goal – to develop a strategy for creating fair and transparent conditions for the development of river transportation and shipbuilding.
Oleksii Savchenko, Head of Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, also supported the legislative initiatives. “NIBULON’s initiatives unite the community but not divide it. We will build free Ukraine with the help of such companies”, said Oleksii Savchenko.