On June the 3rd on OJSC “Wadan Yards Okean” there was the solemn ceremony of keel-laying of 4 bottom sections for the first 4 out of 16 non-self-propelled dry double-holded vessels of mixed navigation (river-sea) for transportation of general and bulk cargoes that later will be delivered to NIBULON. The delivery of 16 vessels will be done in four stages:  till August the 15th the first vessel will be delivered to NIBULON, till August the 31st the second, third and fourth vessels will be delivered; the next four  – till October the 13th , the next four  – till November the 30th,  2009. The last four vessels will be delivered till January the 26th, 2010. All vessels meet the requirements of International Code of safe transportation of grain in bulk, International Convention of life protection at sea, International Rules of prevention of vessels collision at sea, International  Convention of  pollution from vessels prevention and etc. They will be under the flag of Ukraine and will be registered in Mykolayiv port. As we informed you on March the 6th, 2009 “NIBULON” and OJSC “Wadan Yards Okean” signed 16 contracts for construction of barges. On April the 2nd 2009 on the transshipment terminal for grain and oil seeds of NIBULON in Mykolayiv city there was the solemn signing of the protocol between OJSC “Wadan Yards Okean” and “NIBULON” about carrying into effect of the contracts for construction. In the middle of April OJSC “Wadan Yards Okean” received the first trainloads of metal.  By the way, as a material for main hull carbon shipbuilding steel of normal strength (category A and D) is used. The ship has double bottom and double boards. At the end of April there was completed the tender on delivery of painting products supposed for new building process of non-self-propelled barges pr. NBL-90 Taking into consideration such conditions as price and quality, International Paint Ltd(Great Britain) won the tender. In some days to the transshipment terminal of NIBULON there was delivered the first consignment of painting products. For each barge there will be used 9300 liters of painting products. At that time the cutting process for the first four barges started in metal-processing workshop No1. The cutting of the metal sheets and metal shapes of the block No3 of the cylindrical part of the vessels is performed by portal machines of plasma cutting NUMOREX NXB-4500 and TELEREX TXB-10200. Such kind of equipment allows performing the cutting even under water. This technology secures minimal metal deformation, that allows cutting out the smallest parts. Device TELEREX TXB-10200 has two basins and two carriers that make cutting process unceasing and double-efficient. It is also used the technology of simultaneous cutting of two metal sheets. The cutting speed comprises 3500 mm per minute. The cutting time for one barge makes up 14 days not taking into consideration hatch covers. By the way for one barge man needs to produce and weld 20 thousand of details. We also chose the suppliers of ground tacking and electro technical equipment. DMT company (Romania) is a supplier of  ground tacking equipment for 16 barges. Delivery and mounting of electro technical equipment will be carried out by “Neptun-Electro” company form Mykolayiv. So we can establish the fact that the works are carried out according to the approved schedule. Today we received nearly 100% of metal for barges and the cutting of metal for sheets is coming to the end, the first embedded sections for 4 vessels are ready, painting products are received  – the construction is carried out according to schedule and is under control. Fleet construction is a key stage in realization of new investment project at the cost of USD 150 mln. The project includes construction of seven elevators,  with total grain storage capacity nearly 300 000 tons in Cherkasy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovs’k and Zaporizhzhya regions, construction of 24 barges of mixed (river-sea) navigation with deadweight of 108 000 tons and construction and purchasing of 14 sea and river tugboats. It should be noted that our company carries out this investment project with participation of Ukrainian projectors, metal suppliers and shipbuilders etc, stimulating the development of Ukrainian economics. It is of current importance at the time of world economic crisis. The immensity of the construction can be judged from the following data: we going to use 23.5 thousand tons of special shipbuilding steel, which equals delivery with 350 railway wagons or it’s area would occupy 262 320 m2, i.e. 26 hectares or 37 soccer fields. The welders will weld 360 km of welding stitches. To secure the required vessels stability there will be welded 144 km of reinforcement plates. The length of one barge equals 90 m, and the total length of the “NIBULON caravan” is almost 3 km. The metal for barges is supplied by “Metinvest-Ukraine” and “Undustrial’nyy Soyuz Donbas”. The half of the staff of OJSC “Wadan Yards Okean” will be involved in this construction.             Also there will be built the river terminals and tugboats. It will enable “NIBULON” to create its own shipping company and 800 new working places. This project realization is going to restore the existence of Dnipro transportation hub and is going to revive the Dnipro as Ukrainian thruway. Planed volumes of grains shipping through the river waterway comprise 1 Mio tons per year. The existence of fleet will make container shipping available, whose potential makes up 18 thousand TEU. Our own fleet existence will make logistics cheaper, and will save a lot of money in comparison with truck and railway transportations and unclog a traffic arteries. First of all it plays into the hands of commodity producers in Cherkasy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovs’k, Kyiv and Zaporizhzhya regions. Purchasing prices in these regions will be drawn near the prices of Ukrainian marine ports. Commodity producers will be able to shrink transportation expenses, which is extremely important in the economic crisis.  General Director of “NIBULON”, The Hero of Ukraine Oleksiy Vadaturskyy expresses his gratitude for cooperation to the governor of Mykolayiv region Oleksiy Garkusha, governor of Cherkasy region – Oleksandr Cherevko, governor of Poltava region – Valeriy Asadchev, governor of Zhaporizhya region – Oleksandr Staruh, Mykolayiv major – Volodymyr Chaika and also to all regional, district and local councils. This investment project will allow engaging highly professional specialists to manage the river shipping process, which in its turn will help to establish positive image of Ukraine at the world grain market. 54030, 9-B Faleyevs’ka St., Mykolayiv, Ukraine Tel.: +38 (0512) 37-23-44, 58-04-04, fax: +38 (0512) 58-04-05, 50-01-91 Web-site: www.nibulon.com,    e-mail: mail1@nibulon.com.ua