Next week, NBL-90 non-self-propelled vessel accompanied by the modernized Nodari Chanturiia tug (121 M project) launched in June 2017 and named after a well-known Mykolaiv shipbuilder will be at NIBULON’s transshipment terminal in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi. The watermelons will be delivered to Silpo supermarkets (Fozzy Group) in Kyiv.
NIBULON’s fleet is transporting tasty Kherson watermelons to Kyiv for the third consecutive year. In 2017, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and as part of the “Creating an effective logistic chain of fruit and vegetables delivery” pilot project, NIBULON’s non-self-propelled vessel left the “Holoprystans’ka” berth for the first time for over 15 years with 300 tons of watermelons. Kyiv citizens and guests were able to taste watermelons within 4 days. This event was the top news item in information agencies and social networks; watermelons transported by barges were greatly in demand in the supermarkets. The shipment of more than 400 tons of watermelons in August 2018 was again an important news event.
The delivery of fruit and vegetables from the South of Ukraine to the North by water transport will considerably reduce product losses, as they are not loaded in bulk in the usual manner but are packaged in special containers. Since water is a natural refrigerant, fruit and vegetables do not suffer the effects of overheating and are delivered to retail chains in good condition, both inside and outside. The delivery chain used by NIBULON not only preserves product quality, but also helps to expand the sales market for seasonal products, as well as removing these cargoes from the roads. 
In the current conditions, transport of fruit and vegetables by water is in great demand. In some Ukrainian regions, it is impossible to grow some fruit and vegetables, or they cannot become fully ripe. NIBULON has all the required capacities (12 river transshipment terminals, a modern fleet) to load, unload and deliver natural vegetables and fruit of good quality to other Ukrainian regions located on the Dnipro River. 
NIBULON promotes transportation of fruit and vegetables by water continuously, not just from time to time. Considering that the company provides its berths and the required machinery free of charge to load/unload watermelons in Hola Prystan and Pereiaslav Khmelnytskyi, the final delivery costs per kilo are almost halved. To run this type of transportation without loss for the carrier, it is necessary to create competitive conditions compared with other types of transport. In particular, the excessive tax burden for Ukrainian inland water transport must be reduced. This burden prevents the development of cargo shipping on inland waterways. The tax burdens include the excise tax on fuel, payments for raising movable bridges and passing through the Dnipro Cascade locks, and rental payments for special water use. Cancelling these payments will make water transport competitive with rail and road transport.