During the visit, Michaël Roux and NIBULON’s representatives discussed the issue of the blocked fleet and the necessity of its evacuation to increase the export potential of the Danube.

According to Mykhailo Rizak, NIBULON’s Director of Government Relations, the evacuation of the fleet from the Mykolaiv port hub should return the price of freight on the Danube to the pre-war level, reducing logistics costs by about $10 per ton.

Mykhailo Rizak also emphasized that the logistics established by the company via the Danube during the wartime had played an important role for Ukrainian exports, when the deep-water ports of Odesa hadn’t been operational.

However, despite the high potential and practicality, today this export route is not used to the maximum, because it loses in the cost of logistics to the port to the deep-water ports of Odesa by 6-8 dollars per ton.

“Currently, Bessarabia is more expensive in terms of rail and road transport compared to deep-water ports, as it involves an additional 250 km of road and 200 km of railway, which increases the logistics cost,” said Mr. Rizak.

He sees the solution in equalizing the situation, suggesting that Ukrzaliznytsia could provide competitive conditions for the delivery of agricultural products to the Danube ports by offering special tariffs for its services. Additionally, through the Ambassador, Mykhailo appealed to French organizations with a request to assist the company in purchasing an additional 250 grain wagons.

“If Ukraine had implemented the EU experience regarding compensation/cancellation of excise duty on fuel for cabotage transportation, we would have saved the roads, and we would have seen the Southern Buh and Dnipro navigable,” believes NIBULON’s Director of Government Relations.

At the end of the meeting, the delegation visited NIBULON Shipbuilding and Shiprepair Yard and the transshipment terminal, which are business cards of both the company and the entire region.