Ukraine sets discount on seaport charges

Following the decision of the Ukrainian Ministry of Transportation and Communication to increase seaport charges by 30 percent effective as of January 1, 2007, the ministry has set discount rates for separate ports based on their product transshipment. As regards ferrous metals, a discount of up to 50 percent has been set on seaport charges at Nikolayiv seaport (Ukrainian: Mykolayiv) and a 22.7 percent discount for 20' container and 27.5 percent discount for 40' container at Odessa seaport. However, last year's discount on seaport charges enjoined by Illichivsk seaport has been revoked for the current year. In 2005, Nikolayiv seaport transshipped 1.4 million metric tons of metal products, Odessa seaport totaled about seven million metric tons of metal products while Illichivsk seaport registered metal product transshipments of about seven million metric tons.