This year, several Ukrainian airports announced plans to develop cargo air transportation and build new cargo terminals for this purpose. Delo.UA found out which of the projects is the most realistic and why
The share of online shopping around the world is steadily growing. You can buy gadgets or clothes not only in a Ukrainian online store, but also, for example, in China or the USA. At the same time, the modern buyer wants to receive the purchased goods as soon as possible. Express delivery of goods by air transport comes to the rescue. This is the most expensive form of transportation. Therefore, sellers and buyers consider their costs very carefully so that the customer remains satisfied as a result.
Do you know what share of logistics is in the price of your sweater? About 30%! You would probably like to reduce this part of the costs, so that the product will be cheaper in general.
The field of logistics is very sensitive to costs. Before Poland’s accession to the European Union, most distribution logistics warehouses were located on its western border, near Germany. But as soon as Poland became part of a united Europe, these warehouses moved to its eastern border, where the standard of living and the cost of services are somewhat lower.
Today, foreign partners are interested in the possibility of increasing the supply of goods by air transport through Ukraine in order to optimize their logistics costs, since transit to EU countries and warehouses will be much cheaper here. “I think that many logistics companies would be interested in moving their warehouses to the border areas of the Ukrainian-Polish border. This decision will provide significant savings. But for this, it is necessary to create high-quality cargo infrastructure at the airports of Ukraine, in particular,” explains the company’s top manager. ZAMMLER, which together with KP “Bila Tserkva Cargo Aviation Complex” (BDAK, Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Region) developed a project to develop the local airfield into an international airport with multimodal infrastructure for cargo and passenger air transportation. Currently, the feasibility study of the project is being finalized and investors are being sought.
In addition, they want to build several more cargo terminals in Ukraine with an eye on the future development of cargo air transport.
At the same time, it should be noted that today almost all (99.8%) cargo flows are concentrated in 8 airports. Namely “Boryspil”, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Lviv, Kyiv (Zhulyany), Kyiv (Antonov), Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk
However, the State Aviation Service was unable to provide information broken down by airports, citing legal restrictions.
Most cargo is handled at airports in Southeast Asia and North America. Among the hubs closest to Ukraine, we can mention Turkish Istanbul, German Frankfurt and Leipzig.
Currently, the development of cargo air transportation in Ukraine is largely hindered by the lack of modern infrastructure.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Ukraine began to think about new cargo terminals at airports. In addition to Bila Tserkva, three other potential market participants have expressed interest in such infrastructure this year: Boryspil International Airport, Lviv Regional State Administration and Ternopil authorities.
At the beginning of November, the session of the Ternopil Regional Council approved the concept of development of a complete property complex of the “Ternopil” airport until 2030. Among other things, the document stipulates that a customs terminal with temporary storage warehouses, company warehouses, office premises and a trade and exhibition complex will be built here in the future. The structure of the logistics system will include: a cargo customs terminal (16,941 sq. m), buildings for import (8,301.3 sq. m) and for export (6,048 sq. m), a warehouse for storing food (7,688 sq. m) and non-food products (7,688 square meters) and household chemicals (7,570 square meters), a covered parking lot for service equipment (almost 4,000 square meters), company offices (522 square meters), a trade and exhibition, entertainment and hotel complex (over 15,000 square meters). m). sq.m).
But the Ternopil airport was returned to the state in 2007, and now it is the communal property of the regional council and is practically not operated. Therefore, he needs a serious investor to implement such large-scale projects.
Also, so far not too detailed a project that can be implemented at the international airport “Lviv” named after D. Halytskyi.
Lviv airport is actively developing in 11 months. this year increased the number of passengers by 47% to 1.47 million people. So it is not surprising that they want to develop other directions here. However, according to Delo.UA, Lviv has limitations for the full-scale development of freight forwarding.
In “Lviv” there is practically no cargo infrastructure, it needs to be created. Experts believe that Lviv airport is ideal for the point-to-point mode, and it is extremely difficult to become a hub. “The hub is transit, which is practically impossible in Lviv under the current conditions. Plus, it is clearly a city airport,” Kyrylo Novikov emphasizes.
Probably, the most promising project is the development of cargo routing at Boryspil International Airport. Recently, Yevgeny Dykhne, the first deputy general director of Boryspil, said that the airport intends to build a cargo terminal that will be focused on processing cargo purchased online.
“It is no longer about cargo, but about parcels. Today, with the growth of electronic commerce, with the growth of the number of gadgets on the planet and the number of Internet users, this type of commerce has become so powerful… And such a high share of air transport in it that we understand that it it is necessary to give special importance to the development of the airport,” said Yevhen Dykhne.
“The existing cargo infrastructure of Boryspil was formed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was designed to handle about 40 tons of cargo per day. “Now the cargo turnover is 110-120 tons of cargo per day,” Pavlo Ryabikin, general director, said in September. MA “Boryspil”, then it was reported that such a project could be implemented in 1.5 years.
“Boryspil” MA has a cargo infrastructure that is sufficient today, but insufficient in the near future. “Military lands” (UATK and Ministry of Defense) are perfectly suitable for modular hangars of cargo airlines. There are even airlines that are ready to invest (for example, SilkWay was told: give us the land and we will build everything,” says Kyrylo Novikov.
A potential competitor of “Boryspol” can be KP “Bila Tserkva Cargo Aviation Complex” (BDAK, Bila Tserkva). Currently, the company is mainly engaged in the repair and maintenance of aircraft. However, its management intends to significantly expand the range of activities. For this, partners with experience in logistics have already been involved – the ZAMMLER group of companies.
ZAMMLER’s interest in the creation of an international cargo airport in Bila Tserkva is related to the fact that the company has a customs terminal with a warehouse that processes cargo brought by road transport. It is located in close proximity to BDAK. Therefore, the company joined the initiative of the management of the Belotserk aviation complex. After all, it will be easier for several partners to jointly promote such an initiative.
Viktor Shevchenko believes that the possible competition between Bila Tserkva and Boryspil may be beneficial to service consumers, as it will lead to more market tariffs in the segment of express cargo delivery.
Bila Tserkva can become a repair base for a European low-cost carrier and a good logistics hub. But an important condition for the creation of a rembaza is the availability of passenger flights from this city. “The head of BAGK raised the importance of the Bila Tserkva airport for the first time this year, presenting and approving a completely viable development concept. He lacks support at the state level and from lobbyists of logistics operators,” says Kyrylo Novikov. The impetus for the creation of a full-fledged airport in Bila Tserkva will be the revival of the idea of transferring the Kyiv regional state administration from the capital to this district center.
Unloading of cargo plane to “Boryspil” MA
So far, all the listed projects are at the preparatory stage. When moving to the practical part, you should understand the cost of implementation. According to Kyril Novikov, the cost of building a hangar in which cargo operations are carried out can be estimated at $400 per 1 square meter. m. And if we take into account the need for the construction of a freight platform, networks, household and technological premises, lighting, special equipment, etc., then the cost of 1 sq. m may be equal to the cost of a “square” in an elite area of the capital. “Investors understand this and are not afraid to invest if they see demand. However, no private hangars have been built at Ukrainian airports so far,” says Novikov.
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