Benefits and Perspectives
The Ukrainian Black Sea Region is a part of the European sea coast that plays the role of a link in the transport chain connecting land routes of Europe as the most powerful and intensive transport system in the world, to sea routes connecting the Old World to the rest of the globe. According to the transit potential index, Ukraine holds the leading position in Europe. The country is crossed by the 3rd, 5th, 7th and the 9th International Cretan transport corridors (ITC) as well as by ITC Gdansk-Odessa and transport corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia called TRACECA and The Black Sea Ring Highway.
Ports of Northern Europe are connected to both American continents, Africa and Australia with sea routes crossing the Northern, Central and Southern Atlantic. The Mediterranean and Black Sea ports have an exit to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar and to the Indian Ocean via Suez.
The Ukrainian Black Sea region has been traditionally considered as the sea gate for a significant part of the former USSR territory including Ukraine, Moldova, a part of Belarus, the central and partially southern part of the European Russia.
The territory of this economic region is almost as large as the territory of the European Union but is served by only 7 major Ukrainian ports whereas the rest of Europe has the support of 90 ports of the same status.
Additional advantages for the multifunction HUB port complex could be ensured by the possibility to prolong the cheaper ‘water’ section of many routes by using river-to-sea type vessels on natural navigable waterways and manmade channels. Nearshore waters of the northern coast of the Black Sea and the whole Sea of Azov are suitable (red lines) for navigation by river-to-sea vessels almost without any restrictions. Increasing the river share in the transport chain will enable to reduce the transportation cost on one hand, and expand the geography of providiying cheaper transport services on another hand.
Firstly, this includes delivering cargo within Ukraine along the Dnipro, Yuzhny Bug and Dnister rivers. Secondly, reloading goods from sea vessels directly to river ships could make it possible to deliver them quickly and in a cheaper way along the Danube river to Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria - the countries with no access to the sea. Thirdly, employing the river transport on the route Black Sea-Azov-Don-Volga could enable to build up the presence on the huge Caspian market of transport services.
Implementing of river transport advantages will become possible in case of establishing an inland navigation fleet within the INDUSTRIAL PARK «OVIDIY CITY».