Dim future for Kherson port recovery, Ministry of Infrastructure admits: "Startup not possible"

The resumption of operations at the port of Kherson is currently impossible, said Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov in an interview with LIGA.net.

"The port of Kherson has been closed since February 24, 2022. Even after the liberation of the city, we can't restart it. First of all, this is due to regular shelling of the city. Secondly, navigation in the area has become dangerous due to the occupation of the left bank and the Kinburn Spit," he explained.

In 2020, Ukraine began concessioning its seaports, and the Kherson seaport was one of the first. Risoil-Kherson won the concession competition for the Kherson seaport and planned to invest over 300 million hryvnia in its development.

In May 2022, the Ministry of Infrastructure announced the closure of four seaports in the southern region occupied by Russia at that time. The ports in Berdyansk, Mariupol, Skadovsk, and Kherson were closed until Ukraine could regain control over them.

On November 11, 2022, Ukrainian forces entered Kherson and surrounding areas and liberated them from occupation.

In August 2023, it was announced that the Cabinet of Ministers had decided to dissolve the Kherson seaport state enterprise and merge it with the Olvia Stevedoring Company in Mykolaiv.