Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company to renew fleet with World Bank financing

Ukrainian Danube Shipping and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank Group, signed an agreement on attracting private investment for the modernization and expansion of the fleet at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, reported the press service of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure.

The International Financial Corporation will also promote the implementation of European standards of corporate policy, compliance, and financial transparency in the Danube Shipping Company.

Renewing the fleet of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company will allow to expand the capabilities of the logistics ecosystem of the Danube. The Danube cluster is an effective alternative route for cargo circulation in conditions of blocking of the main sea routes.

Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company is a state-owned private joint-stock company.

After the full-scale invasion of Russia, the company rebuilt its business model, introduced reforms for transparent and efficient management. Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company launched new lines of activity, implemented a number of investment projects, started construction and modernization of the fleet, the ministry notes.

For the first time in its history, Danube Shipping received a profit from its activities, as a result of which the state budget received record dividends in 2022 – more than UAH 146 million ($4 million).

At the beginning of May 2023, Ukraine received an additional $1.5 billion from the Danube ports after the liberation of Snake Island in the Black Sea.

On June 21, a ship with a record deadweight of 24,000 tons entered the port of Izmail in southern Ukraine.