The purpose of the forum was to discuss and analyze the Black Sea Region grain market status and development prospects; development of the infrastructure and logistics of the Dnipro-Danube-Black Sea basin. The first official part of the forum was in the form of conference and was held on August 22. More than 15 reports of specialists of the respective fields were presented and discussed. Within the first session of the forum “Prospects of Ukrainian Grain in the 2018/19 Season”, NIBULON’s General Director Oleksiy Vadaturskyy delivered a speech “Present and Future of Grain Transportation by Rivers in Ukraine”.
On the second day of the agro-logistics forum, all its participants had an opportunity to visit the infrastructure objects of Mykolaiv region. At first they visited NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard and the company’s transshipment terminal for shipment of grain and oilseeds in Mykolaiv, where Andrii Volik, deputy general director of fleet construction, fleet operation and navigation safety, and Dmytro Horbenko, director of NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard, held an excursion and answered all the questions.
Rodion Rybchynskyi, head of business projects unit at APK-Inform Agency and FAO expert, says that it is a valuable experience for people engaged in grain trading and who have elevators to look at real achievements of NIBULON in creating a purchasing system, grain processing and shipment on river fleet, because “there are no analogues in Ukraine and, unfortunately, it is not foreseen in the near future”.
“Today, the forum participants had a unique opportunity to see the leader in shipbuilding – NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard. It should be noted that previously NIBULON was an indicator of pricing in grain market. Now the company is an indicator of river transport industry development, construction of non-self-propelled vessels and tugs. So there is something to learn from you. Having visited the shipbuilding yard and transshipment terminal, I could see that this system is quite complicated; it’s hard work. I have already visited your shipyard in May at the international exhibitions and I noticed that in this short period of time the number of shipyard’s orders has increased. It is a bright example since the company not only took the old plant and put it into operation, but also continues to develop it. I counted 6 vessels that are being constructed. These are skills; it evokes respect for the company and the pride that this is a Ukrainian company that confidently develops itself despite all problems in the country”. 
At the shipbuilding and repair yard, the guests visited newly built workshops with state-of-the-art equipment from the world’s leading manufacturers and familiarized themselves with the shipbuilding program progress and the shipyard reconstruction, which will bring it to a completely new higher level and make it the most modern shipyard in Ukraine.
“To tell the truth, it is striking that the company put everything in order in rather short period of time. I think the best indicator of efficiency is the fact that the plant has a heavy order book for 2 years ahead. We have been closely cooperating with NIBULON for a long time (Memorandum of Understanding was signed between FAO and NIBULON). Now I can confidently say to my colleagues in Egypt that I have seen what NIBULON is capable of; I estimated the size of this company and its capacities”, said Dmytro Prykhodko, an economist at FAO Investment Center.
Thanking the company’s management for the visit, the guests noticed another important moment for the city and the whole country: NIBULON is a responsible employer, and its successes are good jobs. The visitors were also surprised with the number of women at the shipyard. Yevhen Osmokesku, IFC project manager for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, summed up,
“I visit Mykolaiv and NIBULON’s facilities for the first time. And I am grateful to you and APK-Inform for this. I am impressed by what I saw because this is not my first time at shipyards (I have visited big sea ones), but it’s wow. I know how NIBULON started and what it has achieved. Another important point for us as an international organization is that you are one of the companies that grows and provides jobs, including jobs for a large number of women; gender issue is also relevant. Thank you for this”.