National University “Odessa Maritime Academy” took part in the XXI International Black Sea Transport Forum (Trans Expo Odessa 2019) at the exhibition complex of Odessa Sea Port from 18 till 20 September, 2019. The events of the Forum were held under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and Black and Azov Seas Ports Association (BASPA). Within the framework of the forum the following events were held: The International Exhibition on Shipping, Shipbuilding and Ports Development “Odessa 2019”; Exhibition on Transport and Logistics «TRANSUKRAINE 2019»; Specialized Exhibition «Commercial and Municipal Transport 2019»; the International Conference on Transport and Logistics «Development of Transport System of Ukraine: Challenges and Prospects».

At the opening ceremony welcoming remarks were delivered by Oleksiy Vadaturskyy, NIBULON’s General Director, Vyacheslav Kislovsky, General Director of the Association “All-Ukrainian Union of Crewing Companies” (VOKK), Oleksandr Sivak, Director of MediaCompas Ukraine Ltd, Jacek Piechota, President of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and others.

The participants of the event were the representatives of various international companies who participated in round tables and conferences on the following topics: Ukraininan ports and transport industry as a whole: Present and future; the training and certification of seafarers “Actual issues of the recruiting sector of Ukraine”; Safety of navigation in the Rhein-Danube Transport Corridor: issues of harmonization of regulatory documents, organization of navigation, use of RIS, ship and cargo handling in ports; marine cities of Ukraine etc.

The round table programme included the following topics: issues of improving the quality of maritime personnel training, risks and prospects; prospects for the job market development for Ukrainian seafarers, the role of the state in this process; Internet-recruiting, data verification; recommendations of the round table participants on the implementation of the ways for addressing the issues.