Kherson Sea Commercial Port Concession

Project Details

Client

Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine | Sponsored by IFC & EBRD

Type

Concession

Services

Project Management, Strategy Consulting

Date

2016 – 2021

The Kherson Sea Port is a strategically located river-sea port in southern Ukraine, situated at the confluence of the Dnipro River and the Dnipro–Bug estuary, with direct access to the Black Sea.

It serves as a key logistics hub for the export and import of agricultural products, timber, fertilizers, and general cargo for central and southern regions of Ukraine.

The concession covered assets of the State Enterprise “Kherson Sea Commercial Port” (KSCP) and part of the Kherson branch of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), including berths, storage areas, rail and road access, and handling equipment.

The total concession area comprised approximately 30 hectares, with 7 operational berths and an annual handling capacity of around 1.5 million tonnes.

The project aimed to attract private investment for the modernization, reconstruction, and efficient operation of the port facilities while maintaining state ownership of the land and strategic assets.

Under the concession, the private partner was expected to upgrade cargo handling infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and enhance environmental and safety standards in line with international best practices.

Impressions

Challenge

Preparation of the Pilot Sea Port Concession in Ukraine

Before the concession, Kherson Sea Port operated under outdated infrastructure, limited private investment, and inefficient cargo-handling processes.

Despite its advantageous location on the Dnipro River, the port’s facilities required substantial modernization to meet modern operational, environmental, and safety standards.

The Government of Ukraine, with the support of international financial institutions (IFC and EBRD), identified the Kherson Port as one of the pilot PPP projects aimed at introducing a transparent and competitive concession model for port management.

The challenge was to structure a transaction that would attract a capable private operator while ensuring fair risk allocation, maintaining state ownership of key assets, and preserving access for domestic exporters.

The project required comprehensive coordination between technical, legal, and economic advisors, as well as the establishment of a transparent process for market consultations, due diligence, and tender preparation — all within a short timeframe to test the new PPP legislation in practice.

Execution

Production Planning

SPILNO Advisory acted as the project coordination and delivery unit for the Kherson Port Concession, supporting the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine in managing the advisory consortium and ensuring effective alignment of all workstreams — legal, technical, and economic.

The project was developed in parallel with the Olvia concession as one of Ukraine’s two pilot PPP transactions in the seaport sector, both supported by the IFC–EBRD advisory team.

SPILNO ensured that all workstreams were effectively integrated and that the project met the standards of transparency, investor confidence, and accountability required for Ukraine’s first port concession.

Key responsibilities included:

Project management and coordination — preparation and control of the overall project plan, timelines, and deliverables across multiple advisors and government institutions;
Integration of deliverables — review and consolidation of legal, technical, and financial inputs into unified tender documentation and government approval packages;
Stakeholder coordination — organizing and facilitating communication among the Ministry, state enterprises, IFIs, and other stakeholders to ensure process transparency and alignment;
Transaction preparation — assistance in the setup of the virtual data room, review of project documentation, and coordination of investor feedback and Q&A during the prequalification and bidding stages;
Tender and negotiation support — operational and advisory support during bid evaluation and negotiations with shortlisted investors; ensuring compliance with the PPP/concession law and IFI requirements;
Contract management and post-signing support — continued assistance to the Ministry after contract award, including monitoring of implementation milestones, coordination of reporting, and management of contractual obligations during the force majeure period caused by the war in Ukraine.

Results

The Kherson Port Concession became Ukraine’s first successfully awarded port PPP, marking a milestone in the country’s infrastructure reform and private sector participation.

Following a transparent and competitive tender, the concession was awarded to Risoil-Kherson LLC, a consortium of Georgian Industrial Group and Risoil S.A., which committed to modernizing the port and investing in its long-term development.

The project introduced a replicable concession model for other Ukrainian ports, demonstrating the effectiveness of transparent PPP procedures aligned with international best practices.

The concession agreement, signed in June 2020, transferred the port’s operation and investment obligations to the private partner while retaining state ownership of core assets.

Despite the challenges caused by the full-scale war in 2022, the project remained under supervision of the Ministry with continuous support from SPILNO Advisory, which assisted in managing the contractual implications of force majeureand maintaining investor communication.

More Projects

Concession at the Olvia Sea Port of Ukraine