DRW-80 self-propelled shallow-draught barge (project)

DRW-80 Self-Propelled Small Shallow-Draft Barge (Project)

Dredgers of Ukraine is looking for investors and partners to implement a large-scale, ambitious and economically attractive project aimed at developing small-vessel shipping in Ukraine.

There is a problem – and there is a solution

Today, as before, Ukraine remains one of the leading agricultural countries in Europe. At the same time, a difficult economic situation and mistakes in a number of legislative and management decisions have put Ukrainian agricultural producers in an unenviable position, depriving their products of one of their most important competitive advantages – low production cost. When it comes to moving a cargo of 50 to 1,000 tonnes at the lowest possible transportation cost, there is no alternative to road transport in Ukraine. Yet poor road conditions, a heavily worn vehicle fleet and the cost of motor fuel make this mode one of the most expensive, which has a negative impact on the final cost of products and strips them of one of their main competitive advantages.

The root of the problem lies in a whole set of economic, fiscal, legislative and technical shortcomings and, above all, logistical and infrastructural ones. The project developed by the specialists of Dredgers of Ukraine is designed to eliminate the lion's share of these problems almost entirely, turning Ukraine's agricultural market into a fast-growing sector of the national economy. Thanks to fundamentally new technical and economic approaches to organizing freight transport, the small-vessel shipping project will give a new impetus not only to agriculture, but also to construction, industry, trade and freight transport as a whole.

We offer a unique solution for organizing domestic transportation of agricultural products of any type, as well as other cargoes for various purposes, which will allow cargo owners to get rid of a number of adverse factors:

complicated logistics planning when transporting medium-sized cargo by road, and costs associated with inadequate or sometimes completely absent road transport infrastructure, which every year requires ever larger investments for maintenance or restoration;
costs of maintaining a large vehicle fleet with a correspondingly large staff, or of using the services of freight carriers;
constant recalculation of the price structure of the transported cargo due to the high cost of fuel and vehicle maintenance.

The same can be said about the noticeable cost reduction when organizing multimodal freight transport with subsequent transshipment of cargo from trucks to cargo vessels or railway rolling stock. In this case economic efficiency reaches a fundamentally new level and allows producers, manufacturers and cargo owners to gain a significant price advantage over competitors. As is well known, logistics and transportation costs account for a substantial share of the price of a wide range of products.

Small-vessel shipping as a solution to most problems

The development of small-vessel shipping, with widespread use of small shallow-draft cargo vessels of medium carrying capacity (100-500 tonnes) and limited dimensions, makes it possible to use the country's vast network of small rivers for freight transport, rather than being limited to the main waterways. These vessels can take on board cargo of any type: from bulk to goods packed in special containers, palletized or prepared in any other way.

In addition, thanks to a record-low cost per tonne-kilometre, lower maintenance costs for cargo equipment, reduced staffing and a number of other advantages, transporting cargo by small vessels becomes the optimal solution given the specific features of Ukraine's waterway infrastructure. Moreover, in most cases such a solution does not even require dedicated infrastructure: cargo is loaded onto shallow-draft vessels right on the shore using special equipment, and their compact dimensions allow small barges to navigate tributaries of large rivers, straits and canals that are inaccessible to conventional cargo vessels.

Today many European countries blessed with such a valuable natural asset as a developed network of small and medium-sized rivers can boast decades of experience in using them as transport corridors specifically for small vessels. Having recognized the unique potential of this type of freight transport, the authorities of Germany, France and a number of other countries actively promote investment in the relevant infrastructure. At the same time, it is worth repeating that small-vessel shipping does not urgently need infrastructure. Small cargo vessels built as far back as the middle of the last century are still successfully operated by European shipowners, and for many of them they have become a genuine family business.

Needless to say, the basic economic, transport, logistics and production trends that have proven their viability in Western Europe are eventually implemented in Ukraine as well. And the time for developing small-vessel shipping is now. There is very little hope that the state will roll up its sleeves and launch large-scale projects to build the necessary road transport infrastructure. But even if such projects are undertaken, they will still fall short of the opportunities offered by transportation along small rivers on small cargo vessels with a carrying capacity of 100 to 500 tonnes. Road transport remains relevant only for the smallest cargo volumes – 50 tonnes or less; in all other respects it is hopelessly inferior to small-vessel shipping on a whole range of indicators.

The market is hard to define because it is virtually unlimited

It is difficult to single out a specific group of businesses for which the opportunities of small-vessel shipping would be the most attractive.

The reason is simple – there are too many of them:

small and medium-sized agricultural producers who need to transport a certain volume of cargo;
manufacturers of various products who need to deliver them to wholesalers, regional markets and primary raw-material processing facilities;
construction companies and landscaping businesses;
large trading companies delivering consignments of agricultural and other food products between remote regions of the country;
owners of transshipment points and grain elevators, cargo hubs and transport companies.

In practice, the list of companies and industries for which using small water bodies as transport routes and small vessels as means of transporting products makes sense is literally unlimited.

The main driver of success here is the unique set of advantages of small cargo vessels:

the ability to transport medium volumes of cargo at minimal cost per tonne-kilometre;
minimal environmental impact;
the highest level of safety – the risk of cargo transport breakdowns is significantly lower than with road transport;
long equipment service life and much lower maintenance costs;
complete independence from transport infrastructure – in regions with a developed network of small rivers, the need for good-quality roads for freight transport practically disappears;
low crew costs – there are small cargo barges with a crew of only three people that can carry 300-400 tonnes of cargo per trip;
the range of applications is also extremely wide: delivering cargo to large sea-going vessels at anchorage for international shipping, moving consignments within the country or a particular region, sending agricultural and other products to collection and processing sites, and much more;
finally, even delivery speed, for which vessels are often criticized, turns out to be quite high in this case, since a vessel moves towards its destination around the clock, while the use of trucks at different times of day is restricted by a whole set of regulations and standards.

Dredgers of Ukraine invites investors and entrepreneurs interested in developing a transport sector that is fundamentally new for Ukraine to join a project capable of revolutionizing the delivery of medium and large cargo volumes. Our specialists are ready to provide in-house designs, organize the construction of vessels of various classes, carrying capacities and purposes, and show businesses the way to fundamentally new markets.

We know very well that there are no breakthrough proposals without real success stories, and here too Dredgers of Ukraine can boast a unique development in its portfolio that has set the course for further expansion in this field. The DRW-80 small cargo barge developed by the company has long and convincingly proven the validity of each of the arguments above. You can learn more about this vessel on the company website.

New opportunities start here and now, and many of them do not even require brilliant inventions. Much has already been invented before us.

Learn more about the technical specifications of the DRW-80 barge

DRW-80 self-propelled shallow-draught barge (project)

DRW-80 Self-Propelled Small Shallow-Draft Barge (Project)

There is a problem – and there is a solution

Small-vessel shipping as a solution to most problems

The market is hard to define because it is virtually unlimited

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