The Quay Belongs to the State, Cargo Handling to the Companies: Ukraine’s Ports and Concessions

At Ukraine’s sea ports, the quays, navigation channels, and waters within the port belong to the state, held in trust by the state enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (AMPU). The companies that load and unload cargo from ships (the terminals), on the other hand, may be state-owned or private. In 2020, the first “concessions” were signed, entrusting part of a state port to a private company for several decades. This article looks at that arrangement, the projects halted after the full-scale invasion, and those now moving forward, based on legislation and government announcements as of September 2026.

Grain export routes from the ports, and the attacks on ports in the summer of 2026, are covered in our article on grain export routes.

The “Strategic Facilities” That Remain State Property

The basic law governing ports is Law No. 4709-VI of May 17, 2012, “On the Seaports of Ukraine.” This law calls the waterside structures among a port’s facilities — such as the waters within the port, quays, piers, breakwaters, and dredged channels — along with facilities shared by multiple operators, navigation aids, and the vessel-traffic management system, “strategic facilities of port infrastructure,” and designates them as state property (Article 1).

Article 23 provides that strategic facilities existing when the law took effect may not be privatized or otherwise disposed of. The land they stand on likewise may not be privatized (Article 24). However, quays (mooring facilities) may be leased for up to 49 years, and quays, along with the railways, roads, and electricity and water systems serving the port, may also be made subject to a concession, on condition that multiple operators can use them freely.

Equipment and buildings owned by cargo-handling companies, on the other hand, may belong to the state, a local government, or a private party (Article 23). Quays and similar structures newly built with private funds after this law took effect become private property.

The Sea Ports Authority Was Established in 2013

The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (Адміністрація морських портів України) was established under Cabinet Order No. 133-r of March 4, 2013. By Order No. 163 of March 19, 2013, the Ministry of Infrastructure separated the strategic facilities and related property from the state port enterprises that had existed until then, and transferred them to the Sea Ports Authority. The parts that continued cargo-handling remained as state enterprises, such as the various “commercial sea ports.”

Under Article 15 of the Seaports Law, the Sea Ports Authority’s duties include maintaining and modernizing state property, maintaining channel depths, ensuring the safe navigation of vessels, collecting port fees, and preserving equal competitive conditions for companies doing business at the port. Its funding comes from port fees and usage charges, and the state budget may also be used to build facilities (Article 16).

According to the Sea Ports Authority, it consists of a head office in Odesa and 13 port branches, and as of September 2026 falls under the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development. In its list of branches, the ports of Berdiansk, Mariupol, and Skadovsk are marked as “temporarily occupied.”

The 2019 Concession Law and the First Two Ports

Law No. 155-IX of October 3, 2019, “On Concessions,” set out a framework in which the construction, renovation, and operation of state or municipal facilities is entrusted to a private company, which then runs a business using the facility, and at the same time amended the Seaports Law. The length of the concession is decided on a case-by-case basis.

Two port projects were concluded under this framework.

In both cases, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) helped with preparations. Under the concession, the port’s property remains state-owned, and the company pledges investment and pays usage fees to the state.

After the Full-Scale Invasion, Both Ports Were Halted

The city of Kherson was occupied by Russian forces from March to November 2022. According to a report by the trade publication Latifundist on October 2, 2025, the company holding the Kherson port concession has sought a major revision of the contract, arguing that “the concession object as it was handed over no longer exists,” and the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development acknowledged that it is discussing options such as temporarily suspending the concession period and waiving payments while the port is inactive.

Regarding the Olvia port concession, the Ministry stated on August 14, 2025, that it had been halted because of the full-scale invasion, and announced that it had signed a memorandum with QTerminals aimed at resuming it. Behind this is Law No. 4510-IX of June 19, 2025, “On Public-Private Partnership.” According to the Ministry, this law made it possible, from October 2025, to change the terms of a concession or temporarily suspend its period on grounds of force majeure such as war.

Chornomorsk’s Two Terminals

A new project is under way at the port of Chornomorsk in Odesa Oblast. On December 20, 2025, the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development opened a tender for a concession covering the port’s Terminal No. 1 (general cargo) and its container terminal. According to the Ministry’s explanation reported by Ukrinform on May 13, 2026, the process is in a 75-day “competitive dialogue” stage. The Ministry describes it as the first port public-private partnership project undertaken during the full-scale invasion. The EBRD and IFC are advising; the term is 40 years, and it envisions maintaining more than 1,000 jobs and restoring container traffic to as much as 250,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) a year. As of September 2026, no winning bidder has been announced.

Some Ports Have Been Sold

Property other than strategic facilities can also be subject to privatization (Article 25 of the Seaports Law). According to the State Property Fund, the state enterprise Ust-Dunaisk Commercial Sea Port, on the Danube, was sold to a private company for 201,000,300 hryvnias at an auction in January 2023 and handed over on August 24 of that year. The Fund also reported that the buyer and the Sea Ports Authority signed a memorandum concerning the treatment of other operators within the port.

None of these mechanisms operate at ports under Russian occupation. In addition to the ports of Crimea, occupied since 2014, the ports of Berdiansk, Mariupol, and Skadovsk have been occupied since 2022. The origins of the port of Odesa are covered in our article on Odesa and its free-port era.