Area - 864 sq. km.

Population - 400,000

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

The city of Sevastopol is located in the south-western part of the Crimean Peninsula.

The central part of the city is located in a mountainous area with a large number of well-protected deep-sea bays having favorable navigable waterways and transport landfalls.

Mineral raw materials are represented by flux, powdered, and marble limestone.

Almost subtropical climate, combined with a large number of sandy and pebble beaches, warm sea and picturesque landscapes, is the most valued component of the natural complex of the city .

The historical heritage of Sevastopol is extremely interesting. Founded on the territory of antique Chersonese, where in 988 the Kyivan prince Volodymyr was converted to Christianity, Sevastopol stands out as the place of imperishable orthodoxy teachings of Apostle Andrey and traditions of the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet Cyril and Methody.

There are up to 1,800 historic memorials, among which are the world famous Chersonese Taurica, Panorama of the Heroic Defence of Sevastopol in 1854-1855, Crimean War Memorial, etc.

Under the Soviet times Sevastopol was a "closed city." The Decree of the Ukrainian Government of 1995 "opened" the city and allowed foreign citizens and ships to come into the city.

The basic industries in the city are engineering, metalworking, light industry, and food production. Sevastopol is now the biggest Ukrainian center of fish, refrigerator and scientific-research fleet with a well-developed ship-repairing and radio-electronic industry. There are almost 5,000 industrial enterprises within the city, the largest being large fishing and fish-processing plants. Annual production capacity of floating and coastal canning facilities is millions of cans and thousands of tons of smoked, dried and pickled fish. Practically, the whole Ukrainian transport-refrigerator fleet is concentrated in Sevastopol and accounts for 4% of the world total. Six plants, capable of repairing ships of all classes and types constitute ship-repairing potentials of the city. The most powerful sea floating cranes of the former USSR with carrying capacity from 100 to 1,600 tons were constructed at the Ordzhonikidze Sea Works. The biggest in Europe dry dock (250 m) is also located at this enterprise.

A significant share of the city's industrial output relates to the defense, radio-electronic, and instrument-making enterprises.

A noticeable role is played by Balaklava Ore Plant, which produces metallurgical limestone and building materials, such as crushed rock, marble crumb, rubble stone, etc. Several city enterprises produce building materials from Inkerman rock; their products are exported to many countries of the world.

Clothing and knitwear industries are also developed.

AGRICULTURE

The agricultural complex of the region specializes in gardening, viticulture, and vegetable growing. Sevastopol is one of the most important viticulture regions of Ukraine. 1/3 of all the Crimean vineyards is concentrated in Sevastopol. High quality and variety distinguish local grapes. Sevastopol is the supplier of the best table and sparkling wines in Ukraine.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

The transportation system of the city includes 6 railway stations with 35 km of access roads capable of handling up to 600 freight cars per day. Traffic capacity is 46 trains in both directions daily. Railway roads and cul-de-sac stations are connected with almost all Sevastopol bays, through which cargo transfer is carried out.

Two main automobile highways Sevastopol-Simferopol (traffic capacity is 18,000 units a day), and Sevastopol-Yalta of the same traffic capacity link Sevastopol with all the regions of the Crimea. A 30 km mooring line is well developed and includes more than 100 berths in the city, part of which are deep-water quays equipped to load large-capacity vessels with 10-12 m. draft.

Sevastopol sea trade and fish ports carry out transfers of different cargoes all year round, including 1 million tons of petroleum products a year.

Two first class airports (with 3.2 km runways) are situated within the city and can serve air liners and carriers of all types. Belbek Airport can handle 500 tons of cargo and serve 500 passengers per day.

Foreign economic relations with other countries are constantly expanding. There are up to 100 joint ventures registered in the city. The city enterprises export their products to 50 countries of the world and import products from 48 countries.

The structure of exports comprises fish and fish products (55%) and canned fish (34%), the balance being ferrous metallurgy products, ship engines and spare parts, etc. Imported are non-ferrous metallurgy products, varnishes, paints, cable, plastic products, video equipment, measuring instruments, perfumes, cosmetics, oil and diesel fuels, lubricants, etc.