Mykhailo Rizak, Director of Government Relations at NIBULON, spoke about the threat of drifting mines from Belarus to the Kyiv HPP, the blocking of the Danube port’s external roadway that was opened last year due to mining, and its impact on the Ukrainian grain corridor at the International Sustainability Forum 2024 conference.
The speaker emphasized that the company has developed a practical action plan that requires, following the example of land demining, the involvement of various parties: authorities, international partners, and financial institutions. This is necessary to build capacity for the scanning of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the waters and the subsequent underwater demining of the most critical sections of the Dnipro, Southern Bug, and Danube rivers, as well as the Black Sea.
“Building public and private capacity for underwater demining should eliminate the threat of the Kyiv HPP exploding, which could have a domino effect along the Dnipro, leading to an environmental disaster. It will also allow the implementation of a technology that has been widely used on the international inland waterway E-40 (Dnipro and Southern Bug rivers)—loading from a river-sea vessel to large Panamax vessels on the Danube, thanks to the protection of the outer roadstead.
Its operation will strengthen the potential of an alternative export channel to deep-water Black Sea ports, reduce logistics costs for exports, and improve purchase prices for agricultural producers. In addition, it will help protect the Ukrainian grain corridor from the threat of mines and make its operation more predictable.
Today, after 2 years of communication with authorities, financial institutions, and others, we can state that together we have managed to launch the market for agricultural land demining. Now we must find a solution to the problem of underwater demining. Moreover, Ukraine has the production capacity to ensure its implementation. For example, the NIBULON Shipyard has developed a multifunctional platform for the DSNS25 project for underwater demining that fully meets the needs of specialized services. The SES structure alone needs 15 such vessels, which is equivalent to the plant’s two-year production program. This project will also help preserve Ukraine’s shipbuilding industry. We need to find sources of funding and start acting!” emphasized Mykhailo Rizak.
NIBULON is ready! Welcome to cooperation!
Earlier, we reported that about 150 NIBULON employees had already received their STE certificates.
