NIBULON is a vertically integrated Ukrainian company and a leader in the domestic agrarian market. It is one of the largest agricultural commodity producers, investors, and exporters. On December 5, 2021, the company will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Established in 1991, when Ukraine declared independence, NIBULON, together with the country, continues to improve and to become stronger.Ukraine increases its agrarian potential every year. 100 million tons of grain grown is not a dream, it is reality. It is just the beginning. Railway and road transport cannot transport such volumes of agricultural commodities, thereby reducing farmers’ profits and negatively influencing prospects to increase production, processing, and exports of agricultural commodities. Since 2007, NIBULON has been developing river logistics, redirecting cargo flows from railway to river. The company has made much effort, dedicated much time and allocated much money to revive Ukrainian navigation and shipbuilding without governmental support. At present grain traders have started to navigate rivers. We speak with Andriy Volik, NIBULON’s Deputy General Director of Fleet Construction, Operation and Navigation Safety, about the company’s experience in these sectors. – Humankind persistently mastered navigation and shipbuilding, making great discoveries and creating prospects to develop the global market”, says Andriy Volik. “More than a million and a half people have devoted their lives to sea and river fleet. According to statistics, more than 80% of the world trade is conducted by trade fleet. Mykolaiv is a comparatively young city, but it is well-known for its shipbuilding history. NIBULON, established in Mykolaiv, is also a young Ukrainian company, according to the world criteria, which constantly increases its potential in various sectors and builds its own fleet. At present the leading world shipbuilders visit the company to adopt its experience. NIBULON’s fleet comprises 80 complete vessels. On September 20, 2019, the company organized a water show to demonstrate NIBULON’s vessels to thousands of Mykolaiv citizens. At that day the International TRANS EXPO ODESA MYKOLAIV 2019 exhibition was held at NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard, and the company officially put into operation the NIBULON MAX 140-m self-propelled floating vessel, which became a new word in the history of Ukrainian shipbuilding and navigation. The company and its General Director, Hero of Ukraine, Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, have been doing everything possible and impossible so that vessels can navigate Ukrainian rivers under the flag of Ukraine. Ukrainian navigation and shipbuilding are developed as a result of NIBULON’s long-term and persistant strategy. – How did it all begin? The agrarian company has never been engaged in navigation, and it was an absolutely knew and unknown field. – At present 300 specialists work at NIBULON’s shipping company. The shipping company was established as NIBULON’s division in 2007. It consisted of two persons.The company started to create and approve various permits and documents, as it is a responsible activity. NIBULON had to develop its own safety management system, organizational structure, and job descriptions, including labour protection and fire safety. Having received licenses, the company purchased its first three tugs – Lidiivskyi, Bashtanskyi, Prybuzhanivskyi, and four non-self-propelled vessels with the capacity of 2 thousand tons (the tugs still operate; the barges are located at the transshipment terminal in Mykolaiv). At that time the domestic river navigation continued to decline; thus, many highly qualified specialists searched for a job on the labour market. The company hired these employees and started to work, increasing the transportation volumes and the number of vessels. – They say that Ukraine’s most modern high-tech fleet belongs to NIBULON. What vessels does it consist of? – At present NIBULON’s own feet comprises 80 vessels. In September, the company delivered 2 non-self-propelled NBL-90 project vessels to Asket Shipping. This step opens new opportunities for NIBULON’s partners and clients to develop successful and efficient logistics. We are ready to build and deliver new high-tech vessels to third parties. 90% of the company’s vessels have a river-sea navigation class to navigate all Ukrainian rivers. Please note that NIBULON’s vessels operate efficiently and their average age does not exceed 15 years. In addition, the fleet is constantly renewed. NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard builds a modern high-tech vessel almost every second month, meeting the strictest safety requirements, including environmental ones. Firstly, the company has its own cargo fleet. 44 non-self-propelled vessels, with the total displacement of more than 172.6 thousand tons, 22 of which are non-self-propelled NBL-90 project vessels, 6 NBL-91 project vessels, 8 B2000 project vessels, 4 B1500 project vessels and 4 non-self-propelled NB project vessels, 24 tugs and 4 floating cranes. Due to its tugs and non-self-propelled vessels, the company has created practically new grain logistics in Ukraine. NIBULON receives grain cargoes from its river terminals located along the Dnipro and the Southern Buh and transports them to the outer roads to be loaded on PANAMAX vessels.Concerning tugs, the company has pusher tugs for linear transportation by inland waterways, with the capacity of 1,200 – 2,500 hp, tugs, with the capacity of 1,200-3,500 hp, to tow large-capacity vessels and to ensure operation of its floating vessels in the outer roads. The company’s vessels operate efficiently. For example, the NIBULON-100 and NIBULON-101 multipurpose high-tech tugs (T3500 project), with the capacity of 3,500 hp, are used to pilot foreign-going vessels along the Buh-Dnipro-Lyman Canal, to moor vessels to the company’s berths, to pilot 2-4 barges along the Buh-Dnipro-Lyman Canal, and to pilot tug and tow trains in ice conditions along the Dnipro and the Southern Buh. NIBULON’s floating cranes are two Nibulonivets and Nibulonivets-2 non-self-propelled vessels of river-sea navigation class built at NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard, with the capacity of up to 4 thousand tons per day, the St. Mykolai self-propelled vessel, as well as the NIBULON MAX 140-m self-propelled floating vessel. The St. Mykolai floating crane, built in Constanta (Romania) in 2013, became the company’s first self-propelled floating vessel that enabled the company to increase export transshipments in the outer roads by 2.5 times. Since it commenced operations, the floating crane has transshipped more than 10.7 million tons and loaded more than 600 vessels. NIBULON MAX, built within a short period of time at NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard, has become the longest and the largest specialized self-propelled river-sea floating vessel under the flag of Ukraine since Ukraine’s independence. The vessel can transship up to 17 thousand tons of grain daily at a wave height of 3 m, thereby enabling the company not only to increase export figures, but also to develop Ukraine’s economy. The vessel has shipped more than 5 million tons of Ukrainian grain for export for more than two years.NIBULON’s high-capacity fleet, transporting more than 24 million tons of various cargoes, enabled the company to create a completely new grain logistics in Ukraine and to remove the equivalent of about 1 million trucks from Ukrainian highways. The company has also a technical fleet. I mean the Mykolaivets unique self-propelled dredging vessel, the NIBULON-7 dredger (Watermaster Classic 4 NBC 4006), and two specialized self-propelled GSH2000 project hopper barges – Mykolaivskyi-1 and Mykolaivskyi-2. This fleet dredges the Dnipro, the Southern Buh, and the water areas at ports and terminals to ensure the company’s fleet efficient operation. As a result of Mykolaivets efficient operation, the company dredged the Southern Buh and conducted an experimental dredging of rocks on the Dnipro. It would be impossible to build new transshipment terminals along the Dnipro and its estuaries in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions without this fleet. The passenger fleet comprises four hydrofoil vessels (Voskhod and Polesie). At the end of September, the company finished its fifth season of passenger transportation. The company transported 22 thousand passengers along the Dnipro, the Southern Buh, and the Dnipro Buh estuary, having made 725 trips. NIBULON’s passenger fleet has transported more than 120 thousand passengers. – Please tell us about the company’s experience in developing water passenger transportation and share your plans for the next season.- In 1991, about 2.5 thousand passenger vessels operated in Ukraine, 100 of which were hydrofoil vessels. At present there are 115 vessels and only 4 vessels operate. They belong to NIBULON. I would like to highlight that it is important to revive regular passenger transportation by Ukrainian rivers. In addition to regular trips, NIBULON annually organizes charitable trips for ATO participants and their children, as well as officials. The company has transported 4 thousand passengers free of charge. The current season, the company has joined a project to study the demand for regular trips developed by the State Agency for Tourism Development in Ukraine. In September, NIBULON Express-1 made test trips with focus groups from Kyiv to Kaniv. The company constantly maintains these vessels in the internavigation season. Consequently, their technical conditions meet the highest aesthetic requirements of our passengers. Passenger transportation is a social project, rather than profitable one. – Today it is possible to say that the water transport complex is revived. How safe is it for its participants and ordinary people? How navigation safety is ensured by the company? – Navigation safety is a complex of measures to ensure safety of a vessel, its crew and facilities in any conditions. It is ensured by the reliable operation of all machinery and gears on board the vessel, timely maintenance, highly qualified crew, strict compliance with the international and local navigation rules, as well as knowledge about navigation facilities. Various rules aim to ensure safety, in particular the International Complex to Control Safety, the European Code for Inland Waterways, as well as domestic and local rules. At present the Inland Navigation Rules established by the Decree of the Ministry of Infrastructure in 2004 (with further amendments) are in force.These rules include fire safety, technical safety of vessels and hydraulic structures (bridges, locks, etc.). People’s safety is the most important thing. To ensure safety is to protect lives and health of the crew, passengers, as well as people onshore.All the rules are regulated by the Safety Management System (SMS), which exists at every shipping company and on board a vessel. SMS is constantly updated and developed, as the risk system is changed; rules are changed; new requirements are added. – What are the rules and risks on rivers, in general, and on Ukrainian rivers, in particular? What enables the company to minimize them? – The navigable pass is an area of a navigable waterway used for navigation and marked on the map. The navigable pass dimensions are depth, width, freeboard and a bending radius. The guaranteed depths on the Dnipro are 3.65 m, and the width is 80 m to ensure two-way vessel traffic. When high performance boats or fisher boats enter this area, violating water traffic rules, they can cause accidents. It can be compared with car accidents on the road, caused by unpredictable actions of drivers. Unprepared crew, inappropriate activities made by crew, for example the inappropriate use of navigation lights and inappropriate maneuvering. I mean the ignorance about general rules and local rules. Illegal fishing nets, numerous weeds and other rubbish are real obstacles for vessels. These things can prevent vessels from navigating freely. The waterway condition is also very important. It is required to maintain depth, width, and a bending radius. Rivers become shallow without cleaning and can lose their navigability. – What is the current condition of Ukrainian inland waterways? – In 1991, 4 thousand km of waterways were navigable in Ukraine. In 2016, their depth was reduced to 1.5 thousand km. Thus, the length of navigable river waterways is reduced by 100 km annually. Please note that more than 600 million tons of cargoes were transported in 1991, and in 2015 – 3.6 million.People must protect rivers. More than 10 thousand rivers have disappeared since Ukraine’s independence, and Ukraine is ranked only in 125th place for fresh water reserves, according to the World Bank researches. The country does not conduct reclamation works; thus, water reservoirs become shallow and dry. It particularly concerns the Southern Buh.Thus, the company’s management decided to make Ukrainian rivers navigable again. As part of its large-scale project to revive the Dnipro and the Southern Buh as transport arteries in 2009 as well as its investment project to revive the waterway in Mykolaiv region in 2016, the company has dredged the Southern Buh. Firstly, NIBULON built its own fleet and dredged the Southern Buh to the design depth of 2.5 m from Voznesensk (lower rocky sandbars in Myhiya village) to the estuary (125 km). This enabled the company to revive the river and to improve the environment. The number of fish was increased. The company made the Southern Buh navigable again. We have started regular cargo and passenger transportation, thereby removing hundreds of thousands of trucks from highways annually. NIBULON received permits to conduct dredging only in 5 years. The company annually cleans river sandbars to ensure water traffic safety and to maintain water basin in proper condition.- However, the Dnipro remains the main transport artery in Ukraine. NIBULON conducted an experimental dredging on problem areas four years ago.- Rocky sandbars are obstacles in Kamianske town (the former Dniprodzerzhynsk town) where the guaranteed depths of 3.65 m at the distance of 32 km are not ensured. There are five limiting granite sandbars with various lengths in this area. There are about 14 such ones from Kremenchuk to Zaporizhzhia. Our company was ready to do it long ago. The Ukrainian Design and Exploration Institute of River Transport (Ukrrichtransproject) developed a special project by NIBULON’s order, describing a complex of works, including granite storage. It was coordinated with Ukrvodshliakh State Enterprise of Waterways and all the controlled bodies. The company received 47 various permits in 5 years. At the end of November 2017, the company conducted an experimental dredging at the Dniproderzhynsk Lock by a unique facilitated method. In 2007, the Dnieper Princess, a three-deck cruise vessel, grounded at this site. 250 tourists from Germany had to be evacuated. By using the Mykolaivets unique self-propelled dredging vessel equipped with a Volvo hydraulic hammer, the company removed rocks at a depth of 0.3 m, length – 50 m, and width – 6 m during three days. It is impossible to remove rocks by a traditional explosion method, as the river bottom and riverbank are granite, where the Dnipro Metallurgical Complex is located. It is one of the largest facilities of Ukraine’s industrial complex with a full metallurgical cycle, in particular blast furnaces. This explosion can damage this giant. The only method to dredge this site is to use a hydraulic hammer or special saws. The Mykolaivets high-tech vessel, equipped with a hydraulic hammer, a cutter, and a bucket, can operate at a depth of up to 15 m. Its equipment enables the crew to watch online the removal of rocky soil on the Dnipro both daytime and at night. This was demonstrated to journalists, supported by the Ukrvodshliakh State Enterprise of Waterways and the Ukrainian Design and Exploration Institute of River Transport (Ukrrichtransproject). The total amount of dredging exceeds USD 10 million.The specialists were satisfied with the experimental results. Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, NIBULON’s General Director, highlighted that Ukrainians had proved their technical and technological capability. Dredging is possible without involving foreigners, holding multibillion tenders, and spending state funds. It will be safe to navigate the Dnipro to Kyiv, at a depth of 3.65 m.NIBULON precisely calculated the cost of dredging works. The state can make calculations and hold a tender to conduct operations. NIBULON is ready to conduct the entire complex of dredging on the Dnipro within the shortest possible time. – Speaking about safety. Management systems cannot predict everything. People must also be ready for it. – A captain is responsible for safety on board a vessel. Every crew member undergoes trainings and has appropriate certificates issued by the state training centers acknowledged by the Sea Administration. Each vessel has its crew in compliance with the Requirements for Determination of Minimum Crew established by the Ministry of Infrastructure. It varies from 3 to 28 crew members (NIBULON MAX) at our company.NIBULON created the service to ensure safety of navigation and hydraulic engineering structures, subordinated to Deputy General Director of Navigation Safety. The main tasks of this service are to ensure navigation safety, to maintain water accesses and operational water areas of the company’s transshipment terminals, to install and remove navigation equipment signs on the water accesses to the transshipment terminals, to meet the requirements of the State Inspection on Sea and River Safety of Ukraine (Ukrmorrichinspection) to annually provide the required documents to put the berth into operation during navigation, to meet with the current legislation and navigation rules, as well as international navigation agreements of Ukraine. – How to get a job at the shipping company?- The company’s personnel department, together with the shipping company, chooses employees. All the application forms are considered, and we interview the potential employees. The company’s main requirements are honest and responsible people with professional knowledge.The company itself tries to teach captains and managers. – How did you choose the number and type of vessels required for the company? – We have created a new logistics system in Ukraine where river transportation, as the most efficient and environmentally friendly mode of transport, is an important component. Our management and leading specialists have learnt a lot and familiarized themselves with the world’s best practices in the USA and Europe. We have chosen the best and leading technologies and adopted them to Ukrainian realities. We followed an example of the Mississippi River and started to develop the Dnipro by this principle. According to Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, the Dnipro’s navigable potential is similar with the Mississippi. Based on the global experience, barge and tug trains navigate wide rivers with slow stream. The river transportation has the so-called “golden rule”, according to which the size of the vessel should be as large as the normatively allowable dimensions of the waterway. The company took it as a basis. Thus, the company started to build its fleet considering that it would operate on the Dnipro and the Southern Buh (with the guaranteed depths of 3.65 m and 2.50 m), transport cargoes to the Trutaev sandbank near Ochakiv to load heavy-tonnage vessels in the outer roads. Consequently, NIBULON’s vessels have river-sea navigation class as well as ice class to operate throughout the entire year. – Recently, the information was spread that NIBULON’s pusher tug tows 4 barges on the Southern Buh. – The tug and tow train is the most efficient to perform the company’s tasks. Barges are mostly pushed by a tug. NIBULON’s tugs can push four barges on wide river areas – the Kakhovske and Kremenchutske Reservoirs, which represents more than 16 thousand tons of cargoes. The area from Nova Odesa to Mykolaiv is quite wide, thereby enabling the tug to push 4 barges. To efficiently control such a tug and tow train on complicated areas, the company uses a small tug to assist the barge and tug train to pass through this area. Consequently, NIBULON optimized river transportation, when during 2019-2021 the company built these two T410 project harbor pusher tugs with 410 hp. They efficiently operate both at the shipyard and port, conduct pushing operations on the Southern Buh and when locking two barges on the Dnipro. – Two barges have never been passed through a lock simultaneously on the Dnipro. Did NIBULON make an experiment? – The barge sizes, according to the “golden rule”, allow them to pass through the lock one by one in a chain or in rigid connection, depending on the lock size. Certainly, the locks built during the USSR are narrow for modern river transportation. According to the Rules established by the Ukrvodshliakh State Enterprise of Waterways at the end of 1990’s, only one barge with a tug can pass through the lock. At the same time these rules specify that it is possible to pass through the lock according to a 2+1 scheme on condition that barges are rigidly connected.According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, 2 barges and one tug passed through the Kakhovske Lock of the Dnipro Cascade, on September 17, 2021. For the first time in history, the other’s company tug and tow train (length – 235 m, breadth – 17 m, and draught – 3.65 m), passed through the lock (chamber length – 260 m and breadth – 18 m). NIBULON has joined an experiment to pass tug and tow trains with 2 barges through various locks. There are as locks (Zaporizhzhia Lock and Kamianka Lock) where additional measures and the T410 project tug must be used to assist the vessels to pass through the lock chamber. The experiment will continue during two months on various Dnipro locks. The experiment results will be specified in the new Rules.