On May 2, 2024, USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman; U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink; Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Erin Elizabeth McKee; and USAID/Ukraine Mission Director James Hope joined Deputy-Prime Minister of Restoration Oleksandr Kubrakov and representatives of the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority (USPA), Ukrainian Shipbuilding Manufacturing (UMS), and USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) to test a new pilot boat on the Dnipro River in Kyiv. The pilot boat is the first of three boats to be provided to USPA through USAID ERA.
This first completed pilot boat can hold 12 passengers plus two crew members and was built by UMS, a Ukrainian company with more than 20 years of boat manufacturing experience. The boat will support seafaring operations on the Danube River by transporting maritime pilots between land and inbound/outbound ships, ultimately reducing delays and increasing the throughput capacity of moving cargo by up to one million tons per year.
The U.S. government is committed to helping Ukraine increase grain exports during the war and strengthen global food security.
Background: Assistance to agricultural producers and infrastructure companies is part of the Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI) – Ukraine, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It aims to help Ukraine increase its capacity to produce, store, transport, and export grain.