Dredging of Berdyansk and Mariupol, Ukraine’s two major Sea of Azov ports, are up for an international tender

Dredging of Berdyansk and Mariupol, Ukraine’s two major Sea of Azov ports, are up for an international tender that closes Jan. 14. This year, three tenders for the $30 million job failed to attract the legal minimums of two participants. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan complained that dredging companies are reluctant to send expensive equipment into the Azov, a binational sea that Russia wants to control. One candidate to deal with the Russians would be China Harbour Engineering Сompany Ltd., a Beijing-based company. Working in the Black Sea, it dredged Yuzhne last year. This year, it is dredging Chornomorsk.