In June 2014 the navigable draught at the Port of Yuzhny (Odessa, Ukraine) increased to 18.5m thanks to the dredging that has been carried out in the operational water area and the approach channel by Mobius GmbH since February 2013.
On 22 June 2014, the Capesize vessel Kanaris set sail from the Port of Yuzhny to China carrying iron-ore concentrate produced by Metinvest Holding (SCM, Ukraine). It is the first Capesize vessel to have been loaded to full capacity at the port’s 18.5m berth. The second similar Capesize Blue Cho Oyu was loaded with iron-ore pellets and left the Port of Yuzhny on June 27.
Yuzhny is the deepest port of the Azov-Black Sea basin that offers extensive logistics advantages to shippers of iron ore and coal.
“Until June, all Capesize vessels had to be loaded to the full capacity offshore. Now that the port has become deeper, shippers and shipowners can save time and money by reducing the Capesize loading time,” said Alexander Lagosha, the director of the Port of Yuzhny.
By the end of this year Ukraine is planning to deepen the water area and the approach channel of the Port of Yuzhny up to 21m. This will make it possible to fully load Capesize vessels of up to 200,000dwt at the berth. The port development plan indicates that deep-water conditions will be established for all the existing terminals handling various types of cargo e.g. grain, coal, ore, liquid cargo and LNG.