Since August 2023, the sea corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy has exported 50 million tons of cargo, according to Yuriy Vaskov, former Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction).
“According to my information, exports via the grain corridor have already reached 50 million tons,” Vaskov said at the Grain Ukraine-2024 conference on Thursday.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reported that from August to May 10, 45 million tons of cargo were exported to 44 countries through the grain corridor.
Last Tuesday, the head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), Yuriy Lytvyn, said that the results of the Ukrainian “grain corridor” were almost one and a half times higher than those of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. According to him, the rate of grain cargo transportation over eight months is already 10% higher than the results of the grain initiative for the year.
Ukrainian ports handled 37.7 million tons in January-April, up 1.7 times compared to the same period in 2023, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reported on Facebook on Wednesday.
In April, port operators handled 9.9 million tons of cargo in seaports, almost twice as much as in the same period in 2023, the USPA said in a statement.
It is indicated that the largest share in April is the processing of grain cargo – 6.3 million tons against 3.9 million tons in 2023.
The cargo turnover of the Black Sea ports, thanks to the Ukrainian sea corridor, amounted to 7.7 million tons in April, of which 5.1 million tons were the products of Ukrainian farmers, the report says.
Earlier it was reported that since August 2023, the sea corridor created by the Navy has exported almost 45 million tons of cargo to 44 countries.
Since the beginning of 2024, Ukraine has exported 3.7 million tons of cargo through the Danube ports, of which 2.5 million tons are grains and oil, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.
“Despite the record volumes of the Ukrainian Sea Corridor, the Danube ports have growth potential,” he said.
According to Kubrakov, in particular, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company has started offering container delivery to the Danube ports of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and the Romanian port of Constanta, bypassing the border with Poland.
Interfax-Ukraine does not have comparative information on the volume of exports through Danube ports for the same period in 2023, but it is known that in February last year they handled 2.2 million tons of cargo, in March – 2.8 million tons, and for the whole year – 29 million tons.
The day before, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced Ukraine’s intention to expand the export capacity of the Danube cluster from 33 million tons of cargo in 2023 to 35-40 million tons.
In 2023, Ukraine’s ports handled 62 million tons, including 56.3 million tons for export, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reported on Facebook on Wednesday.
According to the administration, imports amounted to 5.3 million tons. At the same time, the Ukrainian sea corridor has already exported 18 million tons of cargo to 32 countries, 12.7 million tons of which are agricultural products.
“By the end of 2023, about 62 million tons of cargo were transshipped by Ukrainian ports in wartime. Among the leaders in terms of cargo nomenclature are grains – 45.5 million tons and liquid bulk – 6.3 million tons. An undoubted achievement of 2023 was the launch of the temporary sea corridor announced by the Ukrainian Navy, which made it possible to unblock the ports of Greater Odesa. On August 16, 2023, the first vessel used the temporary corridor. According to the results of 2023, 400 vessels exported 12.8 million tons of cargo,” the statement said.
Last year, the Danube ports transshipped 32 million tons of cargo, which exceeds the record figures of 2022, the USPA said in a statement.
The cargo turnover of the port of Izmail more than doubled and reached 20.2 million tons (in 2022 – 8.8 million tons). The cargo turnover of the port of Reni reached 10 million tons (6.8 million tons), and that of the port of Ust-Dunaisk – 1.7 million tons (785 thousand tons).
The cargo turnover of the port of Odesa also increased and reached 8.41 million tons (7.69 million tons in 2022), while the cargo turnover of the port of Pivdennyi decreased to 10.08 million tons (15.28 million tons), and the port of Chornomorsk – 11.41 million tons (11.76 million tons).
“I am very grateful to the business, the team of the Ministry of Development (Communities, Infrastructure Territories) and the employees of USPA for effective cooperation, which has led to a number of technical and technological measures: 23 transshipment points have been launched and 15 investment projects are being implemented, which all helped to achieve such record-breaking results. Despite the fact that a lot has already been done, in 2024 we will continue to work together to further increase cargo turnover and improve the work of the Danube cluster ports,” Yuriy Lytvyn, Head of USPA, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Earlier it was reported that the new Ukrainian sea corridor created by the Ukrainian Navy in August 2023 ensured the export of almost 15 million tons of products, including 10 million tons of agricultural products.
In 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC transported 30.58 million tons of grain cargo, up 5.9%, or 1.708 million tons, from a year earlier, said Valery Tkachev, deputy director of the commercial work department of UZ, at a meeting with agricultural market participants on Thursday.
According to him, 22.729 mln tons of grain crops were transported for export by rail, which is 178 thsd tonnes more than in 2022. Of these, 14.324 mln tonnes (-4.9%) were shipped to the ports, and 8 mln 405 thsd tonnes (+12.2%) – to the western border crossings.
“Before the embargo on imports of Ukrainian grain by neighboring countries was imposed in April, 900 thsd tonnes to 1 mln tonnes of grain were transported by rail per month. After the ban was imposed, the volume was almost halved. The work of ports in 2023 was significantly affected by the uncertainty of the “grain corridor”, Tkachev stated.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 63 million tons of cargo for export in 2023.
In November 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC transported a record 14.13 million tons of cargo, which is 33.8% more than the average monthly volume of traffic during the year, said Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Commercial Department of UZ, at a meeting with agricultural exporters on Thursday.
According to his information, 6.08 million tons were transported in the export direction in November, which is 24.7% more than a month earlier. This is also the highest figure in 2023.
“The main growth was due to the partial resumption of cargo shipment from the ports of Odesa,” explained Tkachev.
It is specified that in the structure of export transportation in November 2023, the first place was taken by grain cargo – 2.43 million tons (39.9%), the second place was taken by iron and manganese ore – 2.32 million tons (38.1%), and the third place was taken by ferrous metals – 0.41 million tons (6.7%).
In addition, in January-November 2023, the volume of grain cargo transported by UZ amounted to 19.989 million tons, which is 150.6 thousand tons, or 0.8%, more than in the same period of 2022. In November, the company exported 2.43 mln tonnes of grain cargo, up 40.4% (700 thsd tonnes) compared to the previous month. The structure of November cargo transportation of agricultural products was dominated by corn – 1,406.0 thsd tonnes (57.8%), wheat – 514.0 thsd tonnes (21.1%), and industrial crops – 442.5 thsd tonnes (18.2%).
At the same time, in November, the transportation of grain cargoes to the ports amounted to 1 713.4 thsd tonnes, or 70.5%, which is 1.7 times more than in October 2023.
“We had some suspensions due to bad weather at the end of November. Unfortunately, due to the aggressor’s strikes, we still have such indicators. But thanks to the operation of the temporary (sea grain – IF-U) corridor, we see good dynamics of grain cargo transportation,” stated Tkachev.
He noted that the average daily load in November amounted to 91 thousand tons of cargo, which is 20% higher than in October.
During the first week of December, UZ handled 429.1 thousand tons, of which 18.4% was grain cargo. The average daily load amounted to 79.2 thousand tons. Tkachev explained the decline in this figure compared to November by the weekend, during which elevators were closed.
During this period, 349.58 thousand tons of cargo were transported to seaports and 113.87 thousand tons were transported by land.
“For every 1 ton of cargo overloaded and transported in the direction of the western crossings, there are 3 tons of cargo transported in the direction of the ports, i.e. a ratio of 1:3. This is the usual proportion in the best periods of Ukrzaliznytsia’s operation, which remains the same,” said the UZ representative.
In December 2023, exports of oilcake through border crossings amounted to 59.61 thousand tons, and vegetable oil – 33.79 thousand tons.
As of December 7, the queue at the western border crossings amounted to 9.3 thousand cars, which is 8.4% less than the day before.
