Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Vilkul launched in test mode the new Brooklyn-Kyiv LLC grain handling complex at Odesa maritime merchandise port, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported on Tuesday, October 22.

The new grain terminal was built as a part of a joint investment project of the Administration of Seaports of Ukraine, Odesa port and the Brooklyn-Kyiv Ukrainian-British joint venture.

"I hope that we'll enter the next season with the whole complex [operating]," Vilkul said.

At the first phase the capacity of the terminal will be 70,000 tonnes. Three stages are foreseen, and the terminal will consist of 33 storage tanks with a combined storing capacity of 241,000 tonnes of grain.

The complex has a berth of 254 meters long and 13.5 meters deep near the berth wall.

This will allow the loading of grain on Panamax ships with tonnages of up to 60,000. Earlier the berth was not able to load such ships.

The annual projected capacity of the complex is 4 million tonnes of grain. Investment came to $125 million, including $95 million of investors' funds. Around 300 new jobs were created at the terminal.

The first stage of the Brooklyn-Kyiv terminal with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes started operating on the Androsivsky Mole in April 2013.

As reported, Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse SA, the subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus, one of the leading commodity traders in the world, on October 17, 2013 signed an agreement with Brooklyn-Kyiv on the establishment of a joint venture for the development and management of a grain terminal at Odesa seaport.

Brooklyn-Kyiv LLC has been operating moorings in the Khlibna (bread) harbor in Odesa since September 1994. Its core business is handling bulk cargos of grain, metal products, and ore.