Ukraine''s Yuzhny port authority has signed a deal confirming that it will register the berths built by Transinvestservice (TIS) in its port so that they can become operational - in return for a year''s delay in a compensation claim by TIS.
"However," says Andrii Kuzmenko, director of TIS Container Terminal in Adhzlyksky Bay, port of Yuzhny, "two weeks later the port is still blocking berth registering".
TIS recently finished construction of this the largest Ukrainian container terminal to date, able to handle super post-panamax vessels over 320 metres long with a draft of 15 metres. TIS investment over the last 15 years totals some $350m.
However, the project was endangered when Yuzhny port authority refused to recognise berths 21-22 built by TIS, denying docking for the crane deliveries. After direct action by the acting minister of transport, the Zhen Hua 11 was finally allowed in.
The compensation claim involves investments of over $7.7m by TIS for dredging of the harbour at berth 18 and the area adjacent to berths 20-22.
Mr Kuzmenko is hopeful that a resolution can be arrived at by the end of October when grain operations, utilising the terminal's purpose built complex, are due to start.
