We are open to cooperation, but our opponents are disrupting the work of the grain corridor and jeopardizing the country's defense capability - Odesa Port Plant
Kyiv • UNN
Illegal shipment of vegetable oil at berth No. 1 of the Pivdennyi port in Odesa, and the completely destroyed road of the strategic enterprise Odesa Port Plant are the consequences of the “violent” activities of the little-known scandalous commercial structure Alcides Black Sea.
Illegal shipment of vegetable oil at berth No. 1 of the Pivdennyi port in Odesa, and the completely destroyed road of the strategic enterprise Odesa Port Plant are the consequences of the “violent” activities of the little-known scandalous commercial structure Alcides Black Sea.
Yuriy Kovalsky, acting chairman of the board of Odesa Port Plant JSC, explained why this company does not want to conduct civilized business, jeopardizes the normal functioning of the grain corridor, and its illegal activities are actually covered by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority in an exclusive interview with UNN.
- To begin with, we have a question to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority regarding the legality of issuing a permit to Alseeds Black Sea to conduct its business activities at berth 1 of the Pivdennyi port. After all, this berth cannot be used for loading ships with vegetable oil.
We cannot understand the motives of the USPA in issuing this permit. However, on May 10, without any approval from us, the Alseeds trucks headed to the berth via a road that is on the balance sheet of the Odesa Port Plant. The story repeated itself on May 17.
Did you have any negotiations with Allied Black Sea to stop their illegal activities?
- All this time we have been trying to coordinate our positions with this company and the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority to reach a compromise. In fact, there are no problems: we need to define an algorithm of interaction and sign the relevant documents on the use of the road.
Moreover, even after May 17, we remained open to cooperation and on May 21 sent Alsys a draft agreement on the use of our infrastructure, but received no response. On May 22, another round of negotiations was supposed to take place, but it was unexpectedly canceled.
As participants in the grain corridor, we are well aware of the importance of its smooth functioning, and therefore we are interested in the most fruitful cooperation with companies that export agricultural products, as this is a source of budget revenues and support for the country's defense capability.
Let's get back to the road. Why has it become a bone of contention in your business relationship with Alsace Black Sea?
- Odesa Port Plant is a strategic critical infrastructure enterprise. And this is not just a section of an ordinary road, it is intended for, among other things, emergency evacuation measures in the event of a threat or occurrence of emergencies and accidents of various kinds.
In this regard, JSC OPP entered into a number of agreements with traders who joined the grain initiative, including for the use of the road owned by JSC OPP and passing through the territory of the port plant to the berths of the SE USPA. This made it possible to have a complete list of vehicles at the restricted enterprise for the period of military operations, to carry out proper inspection of vehicles entering the territory of JSC OPP, to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the territory of the restricted enterprise, and to eliminate any risks of unauthorized entry into the territory of the plant by unauthorized persons in order to ensure security at the enterprise.
This means that the use of the said section of the road requires additional conditions to be agreed upon.
You mentioned that OPP joined the grain initiative. Do other companies you cooperate with also face problems, or is it only Allseeds Black Sea that doesn't want to do business in a civilized manner?
- Indeed, Odesa Port Plant has repurposed some of its facilities to join the grain corridor. This became known to agricultural producers and traders, who realized that an additional transshipment point for grain products for export had appeared. And we have no problems with them.
As part of the agreements we have with traders, we have a complete list of vehicles that enter our territory. The traders were sympathetic to this, because we are a secure facility, and therefore we have every right to inspect vehicles to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the territory of the OPP.
In fact, we wanted to resolve the issue of using our infrastructure in the same civilized manner with Allseeds Black Sea. However, instead of acting within the legal framework, this company chose to make blanket accusations against us.
