Chornomorsk


Chornomorsk, formerly Illichivsk is a city in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine, dependent on the Port of Chornomorsk. The city is located around the Sukhyi Estuary. Administratively, Chornomorsk is incorporated as a town of oblast significance. Population:
Originally, the city was established as a satellite town of Odessa.

Geography

Chornomorsk is situated on the coast of the Black Sea, south from Odessa.

Administrative status

Chornomorsk is a city of oblast significance within Odessa Oblast.

History

Before the construction of a port with a city, the region was the site of a number of unorganized farmsteads and hamlets that were collectively known as Buhovi khutory that were located on agricultural lots of a local landowner Andriy Buhovyi. After establishing of the Soviet regime and "nationalization" and collectivization of the area, in 1927 the settlement was renamed into Illichivskyi Khutir.
In 1952 a port was established, and its surrounding territory was urbanized and converted into a city of Illichivsk. The city was designed to become a new home for the Black Sea Shipping Company. Originally a builder's trailer village, Chornomorsk has expanded to become Ukraine's most prosperous town by income per capita. Residents are mostly employed by the port and the maritime industry. Residents of Odessa have recently begun relocating to lower-cost but higher-income Chornomorsk.
On 15 May 2015 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a bill into law which began a six months period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of settlements with names related to Communism. On 12 November 2015, the City Council decided to rename the city to Chornomorsk. The decision was confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada on 4 February 2016. The city was originally named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census:
EthnicityProportion
Ukrainians66.5%
Russians28.5%
Bulgarians1%
Moldovans, Belarusians, Romanians, and other4%

Economy

Train ferry service to Bulgaria

Chornomorsk was connected by freight train ferry line to Varna in Bulgaria in 1978. Four train ferries two Soviet and two Bulgarian ones, named "Hero of Odessa", "Hero of Sevastopol" and "Hero of Schipka", "Hero of Pleven" which could take in three decks a total of 108 two bogie Soviet freight cars. In the first ten-year period, these train ferries had transported 1,000,000 freight cars between Illichivsk and Varna. This train ferry service took 17 hours in both directions. The Bulgarians built gauge changing apparatus at Varna which made it possible to change bogies of 24 freight cars in one hour thirty minutes.

Industries

Chornomorsk's economy is largely oriented to the sea. The biggest employer is the Port of Chornomorsk. The headquarters and manufacturing facilities of "Antarctica" are located in the city, and other major maritime shipping companies have also chosen to open their offices there.
The city also has a freight railway station. The port is on one of the freight routes of China's proposed Eurasian Land Bridge, which would see an eastern link to China via ferry to Georgia, Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and a western link by train to western Europe.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Chornomorsk is twinned with: