Romania will double the capacity of its main Black Sea port of Constanta and the Danube sea lanes within two months to help Ukraine deliver grain beyond Russia’s reach, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told the Financial Times.
The Romanian prime minister emphasized that the plan would be implemented regardless of Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the other side of the Danube, on the border with Romania.
“In 2023, Ukraine will have about 40 million tons of grain for export. To (facilitate) this, we have increased capacity both in Constanta harbor and on the routes leading to Constanta harbor to make this happen. We mobilized as much as we could,” he said.
Ciolacu recalled that Romania’s promise to expand the shipping corridor by deepening the Danube and expanding port infrastructure came after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets via the Black Sea. Moscow also threatened commercial ships and prevented them from leaving Ukrainian ports, which led to exports being diverted through the Danube.
“We have learned well the lessons related to Russia. We have zero dependence on Russian energy and resources. Our support for Ukraine is unconditional,” the Romanian Prime Minister emphasized.
According to him, increasing the capacity of the Black Sea port of Constanta and other routes will allow Ukrainian grain exports to reach 4 million tons per month.
Ciolacu said that investments are currently being made in the Sulina Canal. In addition, there are other “solutions”, such as allowing ships to transit at night from October and increasing cargo transportation to at least 14 ships per day. Doubling the size of barges also “means that Ukraine will not have to use grain warehouses as often,” he said.
The prime minister informed that Romania will open more road border crossings and improve its railroad infrastructure at stations bordering Ukraine to speed up cargo handling.
“Romania has remained silent on military aid to Kiev,” the FT writes and adds that increased military and infrastructure spending related to the war in Ukraine is having an impact on the country’s budget. Romania’s central bank predicts the budget deficit will jump to 7.5% of gross domestic product this year, well above the target of 4.4% and 6.2% in 2022.
Ciolacu intends to meet with EU officials in Brussels this week to discuss measures to close the financing gap. He said there was “no possibility” that the EU would cut Romania’s funding to impose more austerity on Bucharest.
“We had to reorganize the budget to help Ukrainian supplies,” the prime minister said, adding that he would try to get EU approval to take war-related items outside the deficit calculations.
“These were unanticipated expenditures … so we will need an exemption from the tax code,” Ciolacu summarized.
