Development of river ports of Ukraine

Ukraine has a high navigable potential of rivers. At the same time, in Ukraine only about 0.5 % of goods are transported by river transport. The current situation of research in the scientific field in most cases is based on the study of the statistical basis for the use of ports in transportation, transshipment volumes, but scientists do not pay attention to the place of ports as a center of river transport infrastructure and transport development in general. An important step for Ukraine for the development of river ports should be the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine "On Inland Water Transport". This law will address a significant number of issues that have accumulated in the field of river transport and encourages the industry to actively develop soon. In our opinion, the state's efforts to obtain direct revenues from water transport operations, rather than indirect revenues through savings from reducing the load on road infrastructure, accelerating the flow of funds from businesses, payment of wages to river workers, indicates an underestimation of economic industry potential. In the context of decentralization, the transfer of the method of generating revenues to the indirect ones allowed to significantly support the united territorial communities in their search for opportunities to attract investors in their territory and the development of existing ports. International experience in port management shows that among the many sources of financing, modernization and renovation of port infrastructure, the concession is the most attractive tool for raising funds. There is another negative point of distorted statistics: the lack of accurate data contributes to the development of the shadow business on the river. The most striking example here is illegal sand mining, which significantly reduces tax payments, and not only state but also local budgets suffer from this. Shadow "developers", in particular, do not pay rent, VAT, income tax, single social contribution. They also "manage" without paying land rent and the cost of environmental measures, including not compensating for losses to fisheries. If in Ukraine the accounting and control of cargo handling in river terminals was carried out, it would always be possible to stop such activity. However, the adopted law is a lesson for our Ukrainian realities. Only equal relations between business and the state will stimulate both the growth of transshipment in ports, the development of new areas of logistics, and, in general, the development of the country's economy.