State Property Fund raises price for the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi port

For the third time, the State Property Fund has put the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Sea Trade Port up for auction, which is scheduled for June 6, with the starting price raised to UAH 184.92 million ($5 million) (without VAT), the state auction website Prozorro.Sale reports.

The size of the guarantee contribution has almost doubled – from UAH 18.80 million ($511,000) to UAH 36.98 million ($1 million) (without VAT).

The SPF put up the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi port for privatization at the beginning of March, but the auction was deemed not to have taken place. After that, the starting price of the port was halved — from UAH 187.6 million ($5.1 million) to UAH 93.8 million ($2.6 million).

LLC Ukrdoninvest of businessman Vitaly Kropachov offered UAH 220 million ($6 million) for the port at the auction, but never remitted the money. The fund recognized the auction for the sale of the port as not having taken place.

The port in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi was planned to be privatized even before the start of the full-scale invasion. It operated with losses in the range of UAH 24-29 million ($653,000-789,000) per year and did not bring in money even to pay employees' salaries.

After all, in just six months of 2022, the company handled more cargo than in the last three years in total.

The Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi port is located on the western shore of the Dniester estuary and, in wartime conditions, since April 2022, has been used by Ukraine as a logistics center for ports on the Danube. It receives cargo on cars and sends them further in wagons.
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