Mountain eagle Saakashvili imagines himself to be a sea cormorant: Redistribution of ports in Odessa

Valentin Filippov, TV journalist, Odessa

To squeeze the port is not to cross the field, the ancients said.

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Let him break down the wall on the beach - his contemporaries squint.

But Saakashvili is so harsh that he breaks down walls with words, throws away planes with his hands and hunts for seaports.

But seriously, the governor has the same relationship to port management as a hammer drill has to abortion. That is, it has nothing to do with it. However, in the unprecedented mess that the guides and the guideless ones managed to create, these are all details. Gurvits squeezed out the ChMP in the early nineties, although this is not the mayor’s concern. So is Saakashvili.

He certainly flatters himself by accusing the head of the Ilyichevsk seaport, Yuri Kruk, of trying to give a bribe to his brutal self. None of the documents on the appointment of the port manager require the signature of the governor. For this procedure, there is a ministry subordinate to the Cabinet of Ministers, and not a governor subordinate to the president. However, everything is not so simple. The appointment and dismissal of port chiefs, of which there are three in Odessa, was always accompanied by shooting, storming of administrative buildings and a full-scale information war.

Therefore, Mikheil Saakashvili’s visit to the Ilyichevsky Seaport did not look original. What seems original is that Yuri Kruk did not even bother to meet this mountain eagle, who imagined himself to be a sea cormorant. Kruk knows for sure that Saakashvili does not decide anything, and his fuss is synchronized in other places. And the fact that, simultaneously with Saakashvili’s visit to Ilyichevsk, another Odessa port, Yuzhny, was visited by a delegation from the American Embassy, ​​suggests who is actually managing the process.

Only the Americans were met in Yuzhny, and Saakashvili was alone in Ilyichevsk with his retinue. Which speaks volumes about his level in these international squabbles.

Now in order.

Hu of Crook. Yuri Kruk is a representative of the Odessa Krukov clan. His father and namesake has lived in Kyiv for many years, working in the maritime sector and sitting either in the Verkhovna Rada, or in the ministry, or, in general, becoming “the most important person in ports.” At the same time, do not forget to be a member of parties, blocs and factions.

The Crooks once started with the Green Party. It was a completely successful American project. He is remembered for the irreconcilable fight against “bird flu,” when, for American money, the livestock of domestic poultry farms was completely destroyed and the market was opened for “Bush’s legs.”

But the younger Crook followed in his father’s footsteps, and the Green Party was frozen. Because, as they say in Odessa, “a blue one on the yardarm is better than a green one on the ICC.”

Without any special education, Yuri Kruk began to steer the ports. Either Yuzhny or Ilyichevsky.

It was stormed by Alpha, administrative buildings were on fire, and endless legal proceedings did not put an end to the disputes. Someone mocked how Yura pedantically wore his uniform jacket. But the fact remained a fact. Under Kruk's leadership, ports consistently increased cargo throughput and showed rising profits.

***

To make it completely clear.

Hu from port.

The modern Ukrainian port is a state-owned enterprise. But, as a rule, it is rented out. The port manages the quay wall and water area, and all transshipment work, all “rear” operations are the responsibility of stevedoring companies that have received their part of the port on lease.

Thus, the income of the port is the rent of stevedoring companies, berthing dues, lighthouse dues, for “pilotage”, for the water area. Tariffs are fixed by the state. It is impossible to raise them because there are competitors in Russia and Romania. Things are not going well for us anyway.

Romanian Constanta surpasses Odessa in terms of cargo turnover. And the cargo turnover of Novorossiysk is comparable to all sea ports of Ukraine combined.

You can't raise tariffs. They should be lowered.....

Further. The port does not attract customers. As a rule, the stevedoring company entering into a lease agreement comes with its clients.

This is what is the responsibility of the port manager.

And customs is certainly not the responsibility of the head of the port.

And possible smuggling is the responsibility of customs, not the port.

***

Therefore, Saakashvili’s hysteria about billions in smuggling is generally in the wrong place.

And the fact that “America stands behind Saakashvili” is not an argument at all. Because most stevedoring companies are from America. And even the company about which Saakashvili is hysterical is American. And also because when Saakashvili was a first-year student at the CIA school, the Crooks were already getting American grants.

***

So what's really going on?

Just a guess.

It’s not enough to sell your homeland. We still need to divide 30 pieces of silver. There are few silver coins, but there are many Judas. So they bicker.

The elder Crook is probably out of favor.

Therefore, many applicants appeared for the position of head of the Ilyichevsky port.

***

Among others, Yuri Kruk himself, Sergei Kryzhanovsky and Andrei Kuzmenko are vying for this position.

More about the latter.

Andrey Kuzmenko’s career is closely connected with the private port TIS, located in the waters of the port of Yuzhny. He also managed the “Comintern Piers” - also a private mini-port.

But this is not the main thing.

Andrei Kuzmenko, when Saakashvili was president of Georgia, fell in love with this freedom-loving country, and, leaving everything behind, went to the port of Poti. There, his formation as a participant in the “Georgian miracle” took place.

***

That is, an unemployed person from Georgia is taking part in the struggle for the position of head of the Ilyichevsky MTP. Lost his job in Georgia at the same time as Mikheil Saakashvili.

And you – “the fight against corruption is the fight against corruption” :)

I won't say anything more. But there is no doubt that there will be a continuation in the reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.