Chornomorsk

Chornomorsk
Чорноморськ
City of regional significance
Monument of Glory

Flag
Coat of arms
Chornomorsk
Chornomorsk
Coordinates: 46°18′06.0″N 30°39′25.0″E / 46.301667°N 30.656944°E / 46.301667; 30.656944
Country  Ukraine
Oblast  Odessa Oblast
Municipality Chornomorsk
Area
 • Total 25 km2 (10 sq mi)
Elevation 29 m (95 ft)
Population (2015)[1]
 • Total 59,851
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code 68000—68090
Area code(s) +380 4868
Climate Cfb
Website cmr.gov.ua

Chornomorsk (Ukrainian: Чорномо́рськ), formerly Illichivsk (Ukrainian: Іллічі́вськ, translit. Illichivs'k, Russian: Ильичёвск, Ilyichyovsk) is a city in the Odessa Oblast (province) 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: 59,851 (2015 est.)[2]

Originally, the city was established as a satellite town of Odessa.

Chornomorsk sea-front
Park in Chornomorsk
Monument in downtown Chornomorsk
Shkilnyi Stadium

Geography

Chornomorsk is situated on the coast of the Black Sea, 12 miles (20 km) 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 (khutir) that were collectively known as Buhovi khutory (Ukrainian: Бугові Хутори) 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 (then the largest passenger and commercial vessel operator in the world). 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 (one of the largest ports of Europe) 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.[3] On 12 November 2015, the City Council decided to rename the city to Chornomorsk (after the Black Sea coast upon which the city is found). The decision was confirmed by the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) on 4 February 2016.[4] The city was originally named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census:

Ethnicity Proportion
Ukrainians66.5%
Russians28.5%
Bulgarians1%
Moldovans, Belarusians, Romanians, and other4%

Economy

Train ferry service to Bulgaria

Chornomorsk was connected by freight train ferry line (426 km) 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 (four axle) Soviet freight cars. In the first ten-year period (1978–1988), 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" (Ukraine's largest fishing company) 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 (part of the "New Silk Road"), 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.[5]

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Chornomorsk is twinned with:

References

  1. ↑ Державний комітет статистики України. Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2011 року, Київ-2011 (doc) Archived 10 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Чисельність наявного населення України (Actual population of Ukraine)" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  3. ↑ Poroshenko signed the laws about decomunization. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
    Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
    Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols, BBC News (14 April 2015)
  4. ↑ Decommunisation continues: Rada renames several towns and villages, UNIAN (4 February 2016)
    "Rada de-communized Artemivsk as well as over hundred cities and villages" (in Ukrainian). Pravda.com.ua. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Dyussembekova, Zhazira (21 January 2016). "Silk Road Renewed With Launch of New Commercial Transit Route". The Astana Times.
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