Ukraine’s seaports of the future will compete not only in terms of berth depth or cargo handling tariffs. The main competition will be between integrated logistics ecosystems combining a marine terminal, railway hub, dry port, customs infrastructure, warehousing facilities, processing operations, energy infrastructure, and digital cargo-flow management.
This concept can be implemented on the basis of a unique land portfolio of approximately 100 hectares, divided into five functional plots in the Pivdennyi Port area. Its key advantages include not only proximity to deep-water port waters, but also direct waterfront access and connections to rail and road infrastructure.
This makes it possible to view the site not simply as a location for an industrial park, grain elevator, or manufacturing facility, but as the foundation for a new private deep-water port, railway, and industrial cluster.
From a Standalone Terminal to a Port-Industrial Ecosystem
International experience shows that the greatest economic value is created not by isolated berths, but by ports integrated with manufacturing, logistics, and industrial real estate.
For Ukraine, the most appropriate approach is to adapt successful international models to local conditions: a deep-water marine front, strong railway infrastructure, agricultural exports, containerization, raw-material processing, and enhanced infrastructure resilience.
Accordingly, the multimodal cluster should integrate:
- marine cargo handling;
- railway logistics;
- a dry port;
- a container terminal;
- grain and food-grade liquid bulk terminals;
- warehouses and cold-chain logistics;
- a customs zone;
- an industrial park;
- service and energy infrastructure.
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What the Port Cluster Could Look Like Over a 10-Year Horizon
At full build-out, the cluster could be designed for the following indicative capacities:
| Indicator | Potential Capacity |
|---|---|
| Total cargo throughput | 8–12 million tonnes per year |
| Grain and oilseed cargo | 4–6 million tonnes per year |
| Other dry bulk cargo | 1–2 million tonnes per year |
| Containers | 120,000–200,000 TEU per year |
| Simultaneous silo storage | 150,000–250,000 tonnes |
| Flat warehouse storage | 80,000–150,000 tonnes |
| Liquid food-grade cargo | 0.4–0.8 million tonnes per year |
| Warehouse and production space | 60,000–120,000 m² |
| Unit train handling | 6–10 trains per day |
| Truck holding area | 250–400 trucks |
| Number of residents | 20–40 companies |
This does not mean that all facilities must be developed simultaneously. The final configuration of the site requires professional master planning, while implementation may proceed in modules depending on contracts, cargo volumes, and the arrival of anchor investors.
Plot No. 1 — 3 ha Waterfront Site: Offshore Marine Front for Two Panamax Vessels
The 3-hectare plot is too small to accommodate a full-scale marine terminal with large warehouses, silos, tanks, and maneuvering areas. However, it could become the most valuable part of the entire land portfolio — the cluster’s access point to the port waters.
The site could accommodate a technological corridor to the waterfront, the base structure for an offshore berth, marine trestle, conveyor and pipeline infrastructure, dispatch and technical facilities, fire and environmental protection systems, and mooring and fender structures.
The main warehouses and terminals would remain on the 23 ha and 14 ha plots, with cargo transported to vessels via enclosed conveyors or pipelines.
Subject to the construction of a specialized offshore berth front rather than a short local quay wall, the waterfront plot could potentially accommodate two Panamax-class vessels.
Simultaneous accommodation of two such vessels would require approximately 550–650 metres of operational berth frontage, mooring dolphins and technological clearances, a safe operational water area, an access channel and maneuvering basin, two independent ship-loading positions or mobile loaders, and sufficient conveyor capacity.
An optimal solution could be a double-sided or linear offshore pier with two berthing positions: one Panamax vessel served at the first position and the second either on the opposite side or along an extension of the pier. Two independent cargo streams would be connected to the pier, while the main onshore terminals would be located on the more distant land plots.
With two ship loaders, each with a capacity of 1,500–2,500 tonnes per hour, the marine front could potentially support:
- 6–10 million tonnes of annual cargo handling with simultaneous servicing of two vessels;
- grain, meal, pellets, fertilizers, and other bulk cargo;
- a separate pipeline for vegetable oil or biofuels.
A practical benchmark is the M.V. Cargo grain terminal in Pivdennyi, with a design capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes per year.
Key investment areas for the plot:
- Offshore pier and first berthing position
- Second Panamax berthing position
- Mooring and fender structures
- Two ship loaders
- Marine conveyor gallery
- Pipeline corridor
- Shore protection and technological area
- Navigation, fire safety, and environmental systems
- Dredging
Plot No. 2 — 4 ha: Customs, Service and Administrative Zone
The 4-hectare plot is located between the main land portfolio and the marine front. Its functional role would be to serve as a compact management and service center for the cluster.
The optimal configuration could include a customs terminal, temporary storage warehouse, bonded warehouse, offices for customs brokers and freight forwarders, phytosanitary and veterinary control, quality laboratory, special cargo inspection facilities, cluster administration, dispatch center, Port Community System, fire and emergency response facilities, and a compact cold cross-dock.
Part of the site could accommodate a 6,000–10,000 m² multi-temperature warehouse for chilled and frozen products, meat and fish, berries, fruit and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, and food ingredients.
Given the limited area, larger cold-storage facilities would be better located on the 23 ha plot, with the 4 ha site reserved primarily for inspection and transshipment operations.
Capacity:
- customs processing of 100,000–200,000 transport units per year;
- temporary storage warehouse of 4,000–8,000 m²;
- cold cross-dock of 6,000–10,000 m²;
- laboratory processing of all agricultural cargo handled by the cluster.
Key investment areas for the plot:
- Customs and administrative complex
- Temporary storage warehouse
- Cold cross-dock
- Laboratories and inspection facilities
- Fire station and security infrastructure
- Port Community System
Plot No. 3 — 14 ha: Container and Multimodal Terminal
The 14-hectare plot is well suited for the development of a container terminal. It is located closer to the railway hub while remaining separated from the main grain flows, which would be concentrated on the 23 ha site.
Key functions could include a container yard, rail container handling front, loading and unloading area, Container Freight Station, customs inspection, container stuffing and unstuffing, empty-container storage, container repair and washing, reefer connections, oversized and project cargo handling, wheeled vehicles, steel products, reconstruction equipment, and containerization of grain and food products.
Potential capacity
For the 14 ha site, the following capacities could be envisaged:
- Phase 1 — 60,000–100,000 TEU per year;
- full development — 120,000–200,000 TEU per year;
- simultaneous storage — 4,000–7,000 TEU;
- 200–350 reefer connections;
- 1–3 container trains per day;
- 0.3–0.7 million tonnes of general and project cargo.
For comparison, the existing container terminal in Chornomorsk has a stated potential capacity of up to 1 million TEU, although its land area and marine frontage are considerably larger.
Equipment could include 3–5 RTGs or electric RMGs, 2–4 reach stackers, terminal tractors, container scales, automated gates, OCR systems, rail transshipment equipment, customs scanners, and a Terminal Operating System (TOS).
Key investment areas for the plot:
- Site grading, drainage, and hardstanding
- RTG/RMG container cranes
- Reach stackers and terminal equipment
- Railway container handling front
- CFS and service buildings
- Reefer zone
- Gate complex, OCR, scales, and IT infrastructure
Plot No. 4 — 23 ha: Dry Port, Grain and Agri-Logistics Cluster
The 23-hectare plot should become the principal cargo-generating core of the project. Its location allows the railway hub, road access, and transport gallery to the waterfront to be directly integrated.
1. Grain Terminal
The optimal configuration could include a silo elevator, rail intake, truck intake, cleaning and drying facilities, laboratory, operational silos, formation of vessel lots, and an enclosed conveyor to the berth.
Capacity:
- simultaneous storage: 150,000–250,000 tonnes;
- rail intake: 1,500–2,500 tonnes per hour;
- truck intake: 800–1,200 tonnes per hour;
- vessel loading: 3,000–5,000 tonnes per hour;
- annual cargo throughput: 4–6 million tonnes.
Key investment areas:
- Silos with capacity of 150,000–250,000 tonnes
- Rail and truck receiving facilities
- Cleaning, drying, and laboratory infrastructure
- Internal conveyors
- Automation and auxiliary facilities
2. Flat Storage Warehouses
Adjacent to the silo terminal, universal warehouses could be developed for cargo that does not require silo storage, including meal, oilcake, animal feed, raw sugar, fertilizers, biomass, cement and clinker, salt, minerals, and cargo in big bags.
The total warehouse area could reach 20,000–35,000 m², providing simultaneous storage capacity of 80,000–150,000 tonnes with mechanized loading systems.
3. Vegetable Oil and Food-Grade Liquid Bulk Terminal
Ukraine is a major exporter of vegetable oils, so dedicated liquid-bulk infrastructure could significantly improve the economics of the cluster.
The project could include a tank farm of 30,000–60,000 m³, separate tanks for different types of vegetable oils, rail and truck intake, heating and filtration systems, a pipeline to the marine front, nitrogen systems, and laboratory control.
Capacity could reach 0.4–0.8 million tonnes per year, with simultaneous storage of 30,000–60,000 tonnes and ship-loading capacity of 800–1,500 tonnes per hour.
4. Agricultural Processing
Part of the site could be reserved not for transshipment, but for value-added processing facilities, such as a feed mill, grain and cereal packaging, cleaning and grading, meal processing, protein concentrate production, biofuel production, vegetable oil packaging, and containerization of food products.
Plot No. 5 — 56 ha: Railway Station-HUB
The railway site is a system-forming element of the entire project. It could provide the cluster with stable cargo flows while allowing it to serve not only its own terminals but also third-party cargo owners operating in the Pivdennyi area.
The preliminary design provides for up to 19 main freight and classification tracks, some with a usable length of up to 930 metres.
The railway hub could include receiving and departure yards, classification yards, unit-train accumulation tracks, empty-wagon storage, unloading tracks, a container rail yard, shunting infrastructure, weighing systems, automatic wagon identification, commercial inspection facilities, a wagon repair point, locomotive facilities, dispatch systems, and reserve capacity for further expansion.
Railway hub capacity:
- simultaneous accommodation of 600–1,000 wagons;
- 6–10 full-length trains per day;
- 6–10 million tonnes of cargo per year;
- 1–3 container trains per day;
- storage and servicing of third-party rolling stock.
A separate long-term reserve should provide for the possibility of creating an intermodal hub connecting Ukraine’s 1,520 mm railway gauge with the European 1,435 mm gauge.
Key investment areas for the plot:
- Earthworks, drainage, and site preparation
- Tracks, switches, and crossings
- Signaling, interlocking, and communications
- Electrification
- Scales, scanners, and automated accounting
- Locomotive and wagon-repair facilities
- Container rail yard
- Administrative and service facilities
Additional Elements of Port Infrastructure
1. Industrial Park
As part of the project, an industrial park with ready-to-use infrastructure for potential residents could be developed on the 14 ha and 23 ha plots.
Potential residents could include feed manufacturers, grain and oilseed processors, food-packaging companies, biodiesel producers, manufacturers of metal structures and packaging, repair companies, building-material producers, and container and railcar service operators.
Investors could be offered not simply land, but fully serviced sites with utilities, internal roads, railway access, fire-protection infrastructure, simplified customs procedures, and build-to-suit opportunities.
The residents themselves could finance the construction of their individual production facilities.
2. Open Storage Areas
Not all cargo requires covered warehousing. Dedicated open-storage areas could be created within the 14 ha or 23 ha sites for steel products, pipes, construction materials, oversized equipment, containers, wheeled vehicles, timber, mineral materials, and project cargo required for reconstruction.
Capacity: 0.5–1.5 million tonnes per year.
3. Energy Infrastructure
A fully developed cluster with silos, conveyors, cold storage, cranes, and industrial residents could have peak electricity demand of 15–30 MW.
The required configuration could include a dedicated substation, ring-main power supply, backup connections, rooftop solar power systems, battery energy storage, cogeneration, backup generators, electric port equipment, and charging stations.
Project Implementation Timeline and Phasing
| Investment Area | Implementation Period |
|---|---|
| Design and preparation | 1–2 years |
| Common roads, utilities, and drainage | 2–4 years |
| Marine front for two Panamax vessels | 4–10 years |
| Railway station-HUB | 2–7 years |
| Grain and agri-logistics cluster | 2–7 years |
| Container terminal | 6–10 years |
| Customs and service zone | 2–4 years |
| Truck holding area | 2–4 years |
| Energy complex | 2–10 years, phased |
| Digitalization | 2–10 years, phased |
| Common industrial park infrastructure | 6–10 years |
Conclusion
Within ten years, the 100-hectare land portfolio near Pivdennyi Port could be transformed into one of the most advanced private port-industrial clusters in the Black Sea region.
Its key advantage is not an individual waterfront plot, a grain elevator, or even a railway station. Its core value lies in the ability to integrate all of these components into a single system:
railway → storage → customs → processing → containerization → transshipment → maritime logistics
This configuration could transform the land asset into an infrastructure platform of national significance, with diversified cargo flows, dozens of residents, direct maritime access, and the potential to attract several strategic investors.
