Kiev River Port is situated on the right bank of the Dnepr. It was founded in 1897 and, in those times, it handled mainly grain, salt, timber and industrial products. After construction of power stations on the Dnepr the port could receive large ships and practically turned into a transit port, handling cargoes from throughout the Dnepr basin.

Cargoes from large ships were transferred to river vessels navigating the shallow waters of the Dnepr and the Desna and vice-versa. At this time, so much coal was being transferred from the Donbass region that its local railway could not manage it, so the coal was transported by vessels from the port of Dnepropetrovsk to Kiev where it was transshipped into rail wagons for further shipment all over the Ukraine.