KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The termination of the contract on joint activity between private enterprise Illichivsk Container Terminal and state enterprise Illichivsk Maritime Merchant Port would entail the state returning funds which have been invested in the project's development since 2005 (about $56 million), to the terminal as an investor, and the sum equivalent to the benefit not received prior to the contract termination (by 2035).

Illichivsk Container Terminal CEO Andriy Pavliutin said during a press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine that this amount is currently about $590 million.

He also said that the company's position in the port has been offered to other potential operators.

"When we are talking about who benefits from this, for example, we participated in a meeting with the First Deputy Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine, then the port publicly stated that our place has been offered to other interested companies and, as I understand, on more favorable terms, because it was announced, in particular, that there was an idea to pass to interest payments instead of paying minimum guaranteed income," he said.

He added that the termination of this contract might be advantageous for Illichivsk fishing seaport, which, according to Pavliutin, refers to the assets of businessman Ihor Kolomoisky.