State-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Port Authority plans to invest some UAH 5 billion in upgrading of fleet of its branches in the period from 2017 through 2021.

An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that Head of the Fleet Service at the authority Hennadiy Haras gave the information, presenting the program in the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine on Wednesday.

Today the authority's branches have 126 various ships. Delta-Pilot has the largest number of ships – 31 and Skadovsk port – the smallest number – three.

The problems of the fleet are the following: long operating life of ships, not enough dredgers for dredging works, difficulties with fuel storage and bunkerage of ships in the Danube region, not enough tugboats for ice channeling.