Cargill Inc.
07/16/2021 | Press release | Archived content
Cargill becomes majority shareholder of its joint venture Neptune at Port Pivdennyi on the Black Sea
Kyiv, Ukraine (July 16, 2021) - Cargill has finalized its commitment to become the majority (51%) shareholder of its joint venture Neptune. The deep water port terminal in the Odessa region of the Black Sea provides Ukrainian farmers with another highly competitive access to global grain markets, enabling them to further increase their crop production.
Today's commitment marks a significant milestone to finalize a project which started in 2016 when Cargill and its local partners, Andrey Stavnitser and Yegor Grebennikov, signed an agreement to construct a terminal in Port Yuzhni, since renamed Port Pivdennyi. The terminal was constructed by MV Cargo and became operational in 2019.
Neptune offers modern equipment that meets the highest standards. With technical trans-shipment capacity of around 5 million tons of grain per year, it is one of the largest infrastructures of this type in the region and is able to load all the different grains and oilseeds exported from Ukraine. Neptune has a deep-water berth of 16 meters to attract high tonnage vessels, connecting farmers with new and more remote markets in an economically feasible way.
'The investment in Neptune allows Cargill to better leverage its operations to feed a growing population by moving crops to areas around the world where they are most in need,' said Philippa Purser, president of Cargill's Agriculture and Supply Chain business in Europe, Middle East and Africa. 'Neptune adds to Cargill's footprint of port facilities in the Black Sea region and confirms our intention to continue investing in Ukraine's agricultural sector.'
'By partnering with Cargill to form this joint venture, we have expanded our global reach and internationalized Neptune's customer service,' said Andrey Stavnitser, co-owner of Neptune. 'Neptune's major goal is to provide every Ukrainian farmer with access to the global markets, enabling the farmers to increase added value.'
Neptune serves a number of customers - primarily exporters of corn, barley and wheat - and is continually looking to grow its customer portfolio. Cargill remains an important customer of the terminal, exporting a significant amount of its Ukraine grain export volumes through the new port.
Cargill as the majority shareholder will manage the strategic direction of Neptune while the local team at the terminal will manage the daily operations. Neptune employees around 200 workers
as well as an additional 100 contractors. A further 1,000 jobs will also be created indirectly through partner organizations.