| Odessa's
port is both the cities pulse and its cash cow. Many
of Odessa's residents make there living in some way
through the sea. Before the advent of cranes and mechanized
loading and stacking machinery, hundreds of burly men
toiled from ship to warehouse. (See
web pages section, for Maxim Gorky's book on life in
Odessa as a dock worker) The best way to see Odessa
is from the sea.
The
Odessa Sea Port web page is: www.ceebd.co.uk/ceebd/osp.htm
At the
beginning of the 20th century ships had to drop anchor
in the bay and their passengers and cargo were ferried
by boat to the coast.
The port
was rebuilt twice, after the first and second world
wars.
When the
Nazi's retreat they blew up a majority of the jetties
and port warehouses.
After only
five years after the end of the second world war,
the port had been completely rebuilt and had reached
its pre-war levels of cargo turnover.
During the Soviet Union the Port was home to the world's
largest shipping company, Black Sea Shipping Lane.
Odessa Seaport handled one third of all cargo passing
into the former Soviet Union, had eleven ports, and
about 300 passenger and cargo ships.
In the
early 1950's the port meet its maximum capacity, but
it was unable to expand further. South of the port
was beaches and sanatoriums. North of the port was
industrial business. To solve this problem, a new
port Ilichyovsk was built 32 kilometers (20 miles)
south of Odessa in 1958. The port is bigger than Odessa
and has longer and deeper wharfs. At one point, Ilichyovsk
surpassed Odessa in cargo turnover and became the
largest port in the Soviet Union.
The port
can handle up to 3,000 passengers a day and allow
5-7 passenger ships to drop anchor simultaneously.
There are
trips to Istanbul ,Turkey
through the port several times every week.
In 2000,
a large overpass was built to quickly deliver truck
freight to and from the port.
By Galen
Frysinger
To the
west (left), slightly beyond the port wharves are
the ship repair docks. They began over two hundred
years ago, at the founding of the city.
Further
to the west is a grain elevator, a huge gray building.
Beyond this is a sugar refinery. Finally there is
an oil refinery.
Seaport map from:
ussco.sphosting.com/port_Odessa.html
| 
Historic photos of the port
