Nibulon agricultural enterprise (Mykolaiv), one of the largest Ukrainian producers and exporters of grains and oilseeds, seeks to start grain shipments by the Pivdenny Buh River in June and bring the grain cargo volume to 1 million tonnes a year.

Nibulon said on its website that on June 10 Nibulon shipyard floated off the second B2000 project non-self-propelled vessel. The shipyard intends to build eight vessels and six of them will be floated off by late 2016.

"In June B2000 vessels will make their first voyage to the new Voznesenska transshipment terminal. The company continues dredging works using own forces. The first phase will be completed before June 15," the company said.

The vessels will work with tugboats. One tow (one 121 Project tugboat and two B2000 Project vessels) will be able to ship up to 4,000 tonnes of grain making one voyage. This is equal to 100 trucks.

The company said, referring to the Infrastructure Ministry that each million tonnes of cargo transported by river saves around UAH 790 million on road repair.

Nibulon was created in 1991. It is one of the largest operators in the grain market of the country. The company has elevators with a total capacity of more than 1.7 million tonnes, as well as own transshipment terminal in Mykolaiv.