OREANDA-NEWS. September 14, 2010. Alexander Lagosha has been appointed the head of the state-owned enterprise Commercial Port of Yuzhny (Ukraine), the state-run company’s press release said. A corresponding order was signed on Sept. 10, by the Minister of Transport and Communications of Ukraine Konstantin Efimenko.

Before the appointment Mr. Lagosha had been acting chief of Port of Yuzhny since June 30. During the period Mr. Lagosha had managed to boost the SOE’s throughput. In July the port’s cargo turnover soared 69% from June operational results. In August this year, freight flows via Yuzhny port leaped 53.4% compared with the same period of 2009.

"I am very grateful for their confidence in me,” Alexander Lagosha says. “I am confident that together with an experienced team of professionals who work at the port, we will keep the Yuzhny among the industry leader. Moreover, we plan to give a powerful impetus to the enterprise development.

Earlier, Alexander Lagosha had headed the stevedoring company Avlita (Sevastopol), part of MetInvest Holding owned by Rinat Akhmetov.

State-owned Commercial Sea Port Yuzhny founded in 1978 is located on the northwest coast of the Black Sea, in the ice-free Small Adzhalyksk (Grygoryivsky) estuary, 30 km northeast of Odessa. The Port is connected to the sea by a 3km-long 14-m-deep canal, requiring pilotage service for inbound and outbound vessels. In 2009, Port of Yuzhny posted a net income of UAH557.882 million, increasing gross income by 69.75% (UAH2.552.370.000) as compared with 2008’s numbers. Last year, the Port’s throughput shrank by 17.79% (17.838m tons) year-over-year.