The meeting regarding the prospects for restoring the fleets of Ukrainian shipowners was held on August 10, 2023 on the initiative of Ukrainian Maritime Cluster. Representatives of private and state enterprises took part in the event.

Ihor Lysytskyi, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster, Chaired the meeting and gave a welcome speech.

Dear colleagues, today’s meeting is the result of several months of our joint work with the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Economy, the Polish Maritime Technology Forum. The goal is to understand the priorities in those projects that should be included in the fleets of our potential customers. First of all, we need to understand how we will download our project organizations and enterprises; secondly, we plan to attract funding from various sources, so it is necessary to understand the size of these investments by year. Based on the results of the meeting, we will prepare relevant letters to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Economy, – he said.

Dmytro Bussov, chief engineer of SE “State Enterprise Research & Design Shipbuilding Center”, a member of the Supervisory Board of ” Ukrainian Maritime Cluster”, reported on the ability of shipbuilding enterprises to restore the fleets of shipowners.

Currently, design organizations and production facilities concentrated in Mykolaiv allow us to design and build almost for all the proposed needs of the Ministry of Infrastructure. Namely, ships, vessels, small objects could be built in the shortest possible time. Based on the different specializations of the members of the Ukrainian Maritime Cluster, we may say for sure that we are able to create and build objects of a range from small boats to specific objects with complex shapes or other specific functions. The main result of the preliminary work is obtaining the need on boats and vessels that are in demand of the Ukrainian customer, – Dmytro Bussov emphasized.

Yuriy Zhukov, Founder, “C-Job Nikolayev” LLC, Ph.D., professor drew attention to the importance of internationalization and integration of marine industry enterprises, namely the inclusion of shipbuilding, design bureaus, and various suppliers in European and global value added chains, noting that “in recent years, when Ukrainian shipbuilding was increasing, there were mainly orders from foreign customers. Various enterprises produced orders namely for the foreign shipowners, and for a small share of the Ukrainian market.”

Representatives of state enterprises and institutions emphasized the need for an upgrade of the fleet.
Oleksiy Vostrikov, Deputy Chairman for Technical Issues and Infrastructure Development of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, reported that:

We, as potential customers, currently are carefully working on and finishing the fleet renewal program for our company needs with the perspective of development until 2034 inclusive. In view of this, after the approval, the program (during the 3rd quarter of 2023) is planned to be integrated into the Enterprise Development Program. Also, we plan to make it public, hold a round table with shipbuilders and suppliers of various equipment, and continue moving in one direction targeting to renewing of the fleet for our company.

Oleksandr Krasovskyi, Chief Engineer of SE “Ukrvodshlyakh” expressed interest in the issue of possibility that dredges can be built in Ukraine for dredging works. After all, this type of floating machines is necessary for the enterprise, “in order to keep the Dnipro River at the necessary depths.”

PJSC “Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company” is currently not considering the construction of new self-propelled vessels but is considering modernization.

It should be noted that in our case there is an acute shortage of maneuverable port tugs. Our capacities do not allow us to cover the need,” said Oleg Mudrachenko, Interim Chief engineer of the enterprise.

Ruslan Mikrukh, Deputy Director of Engineering Infrastructure of the “Maritime Search and Rescue Service”, noted that:

– Maritime search and rescue service currently adheres to the principles: speed and maneuverability, because it helps a lot in our work. Therefore, we, as potential customers, are always happy to consider any project, but at the moment we are betting on light boats, these are aluminum and plastic,” – he commented.

Serhiy Miroshnyk, the chief designer of “Project Design Bureau ProLINE” LLC, noted that there is an information gap between potential customers and suppliers, and therefore it was suggested to prepare a presentation of the capabilities of Ukrainian maritime enterprises.

During the meeting, it was also informed about the modern trend in the marine industry, such as conceptual design, construction of polyethylene vessels, dredges and port tugs, and the potential opportunity to close the demand of customers on the capacities of Ukrainian design bureaus and shipbuilding enterprises in a short period of time.

The Ukrainian Maritime Cluster, together with stakeholders and government authorities, continues work on the development of the Shipbuilding Strategy of Ukraine, about which we will continue to provide detailed information.