Igor Udovickij, the majority shareholder of Birų Krovinių Terminalas (Bulk Cargo Terminal, or BKT) expects to buy the remaining 30 percent stake from Belarus’ fertiliser producer Belaruskali by the end of this year and handle some 10 million tons of Ukrainian grain shipments by the autumn of 2023.
BKT used to handle millions of tons of Belaruskali fertiliser exports via Lithuania’s seaport of Klaipėda. These shipments stopped last February due to Western sanctions against the Belarusian manufacturer.
BKT has offered Ukraine to tranship its grain. The company could handle around 1 million tons of Ukrainian grain per month, Udovickij told BNS.
“If an agreement is reached between all parties concerned, BKT could tranship about 10 million tons of Ukrainian grain by the 2023 harvest, or about 1 million tons per month,” Udovickij told BNS.
“Given that all the marine terminals of Ukraine’s three ports could transship some 1.6 million tons during August 2022, BKT’s proposal is a real opportunity for Ukraine to significantly increase its grain exports and hence its foreign currency revenue,” he added.
Eglė Šimė, CEO of LTG Cargo, the freight arm of Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), told BNS in June that the company could transport up to 3 million tons of Ukrainian grain to the port of Klaipėda per year, or six trains of about 1,300 tons per day.
Logistics experts have estimated that currently only about 1 million tons of Ukrainian grain could be shipped through Lithuania per year because the country’s logistics chain is not ready to handle large volumes.
The port of Klaipėda, which already handles small quantities of Ukrainian grain, says it can increase the transhipment capacity to 8-9 million tons.
The Lithuanian Competition Council said last Friday that Udovickij had applied for regulatory clearance to buy 30 percent of BKT’s shares from Belaruskali and full control of the stevedoring company.
Udovickij confirmed to BNS his plans to buy out the minority stake in BKT but did not reveal the value of the deal or other details.
“Subject to all the necessary approvals, the transaction should be completed by the end of this year,” he said. “The parties do not disclose the terms of the transaction.”
Udovickij directly owns 5 percent of shares in BKT and 65 percent indirectly via Swiss-registered Hasenberg, which is 100 percent owned by Fortis Asset Management, a Latvian company controlled by him.
Belaruskali purchased its 30 percent stake in BKT for 30 million US dollars in the spring of 2013.
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