AIRPORT
UPDATE
Ukrainian goals announced
The Ukraine has set its
sights on becoming a
European transit hub,
reports Vladislav Vorotnikov.
Several Ukraine airports
have announced plans to build
new cargo terminals in order to
handle rising freight flows from
Asia that are primarily destined
for the European Union.
There are many
international airlines seeking
the opportunity of transferring
goods through Ukraine to the
EU, instead of delivering them
directly to the EU airports,
Ukraine news outlet Delo has
reported. The price for storage
and inland transit in Ukraine
is lower compared to that of
EU countries, and granted a
Ukraine-EU free trade zone
agreement, cargo deliveries
through Ukraine could bring
customers some useful savings
in logistical costs.
The overall cargo flow
through Ukraine airports
reached 43,700 tonnes in 2017,
which was 21.1% up when
compared to the same period in
the previous year, the Ukraine
State Aviation Service estimates.
In the first nine months of
2018, cargo flows increased
by 9.5% in a year-on-year
comparison to reach 34,500
tonnes.
The aviation logistics
industry has a rather low level
of importance within the
Ukraine. In total, transport
companies in the country
handled 636m tonnes of cargo,
and the aviation industry
accounted for just 0.01% of this
figure, according to the State
Statistical Service of Ukraine.
“I believe that many logistics
companies could be interested
in transferring their warehouses
to the Ukraine-Poland border.
The decision of that kind could
bring them a substantial cost
saving, but this would require
good cargo infrastructure,
including that in the Ukraine
airports,” commented Viktor
Shevchenko, General Director
of the Zammler group of
companies.
In fact, Zammler and the
Belotserkovsky cargo aviation
complex have recently
designed a draft project that
would see the building of a
new cargo terminal in the
Bila Tserkva airport, which is
80 kilometres south of Kiev.
At present, Bila Tserkva is a
small regional airport, but the
project could turn it into a
major international transit hub.
The expansion of Bila Tserkva
airport is also supported by
the Infrastructure Ministry
of Ukraine. This means that
potential investors could seek
some state support with this
project.
Sergey Koshyuk, acting
First Deputy Head of the State
Aviation Service, told Delo
that although there were
several dozen airports in the
Ukraine, almost 98% of all
cargo flown in the aviation
sector was concentrated at just
eight airports. Koshyuk added
that there were three airports
belonging to the Kiev transport
hub, including Borispol,
Zhuliany and Antonov, plus
the airports in the biggest cities,
including Lviv, Dnepr, Kharkov,
Odessa and Zaporozhe. In
addition to Bila Tserkva,
there are three other airports
which have revealed that they
are harbouring some sort of
expansion plans.
In November 2018, the
Ternopol regional council
approved a development
strategy for Ternopol
International airport. So far,
this airport has not been
amongst the most important in
the Ukraine aviation logistics
industry, but this may change
in the coming decade. Ternopol
airport is state-owned and
the regional authorities are
searching for investors with the
aim of building a large cargo
terminal of almost 17,000
square metres, together with
some other infrastructure, by
2030.
There is no clarity on
whether these plans are really
destined to occur, since to date
there have been no reports of
an investor actually interested
in any of the projects at
Ternopol.
In September last year the
Lviv regional government
reported that some preliminary
agreements had been reached
with Waimea Holding on the
construction of a new cargo
terminal at Lviv. Andrzej
Rosinski, CEO of Waimea
Holding, said that the company
had “broad investment plans”
with regard to the airport.
Rosinski added that the new
cargo terminals which Waimea
Holding plans to build would
match the highest existing
standards. However, so far,
there has been no further
information available on the
project.
Some new cargo terminals
are also slated to be built in
the coming years at Borispol
International airport in Kiev.
Eugene Dikhne, First Deputy
CEO of the airport, said that
there was a clear growth in
cargo flows in the Ukraine,
thanks to the development of
e-commerce. Dikhne added
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