Two ferries being on the balance sheet of public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia, are idle at the port as there are delays with their repair, Head of Odesa Regional Administration Mikheil Saakashvili has said.

"The egregious example of damage at our ports. When Russia has blocked our cargos and we have founded an alternative route for shipments across the Black Sea and Caspian Sea to the Central Asia and China, the issue of transport facilities is acute now. Two super ferries belonged to the Ukrainian railways are idle at the Chornomorsk port. According to the official version, they are idle due to absence of technical repair," he said on his Facebook page.

Saakashvili said that repair of the ferries could have been finished in a couple of weeks and it costs less than one ferry earns making one voyage.

"I have a more realistic explanation why it is happening so. The monopolist today operates the ferries. It sets high prices without competition and looks like it paid to someone in Kyiv all this time so nothing can threaten this monopoly," he said.