The cargo turnover of Ukrainian ports increased to 86.8 mln tons from January 1 to November 17, 2024, of which 53.5 mln tons of grain were exported, the press service of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reports.
According to the USPA’s Facebook post on Thursday, the key export items are sunflower oil – 5.3 million tons worth $4.4 billion, corn – 25.5 million tons worth $4.2 billion, and wheat – 19 million tons worth $3.4 billion.
Port operations are complicated by Russian aggression, mine threats, and military challenges. Despite this, Ukraine’s seaports are demonstrating record export capacity, the USPA said.
Earlier it was reported that in January-October 2024, Ukrainian ports increased cargo handling by 78.1% compared to the same period last year – up to 82.1 million tons. In October, the ports handled 8 million tons of cargo, of which 6.8 million tons, or 85%, were transshipped through the “sea corridor”. More than half of the cargo handled by ports in October was agricultural. They accounted for 5 million tons, which is almost 3.3 times more than in the same period last year.
Since the beginning of the year, the cargo turnover of Ukrainian ports has increased to 80.07 million tons, of which more than half (49.5 million tons) was grain, said Deputy Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Timur Tkachenko.
“Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine’s ports have handled 80.077 million tons of cargo, of which 49.508 million tons were grain,” Tkachenko wrote in a telegram on Friday.
According to him, the figures once again prove that Ukraine is a guarantor of global food security. “Even despite constant air raids, shelling and threats, our ports continue to operate normally, ensuring the stable operation of the Ukrainian sea corridor.
Earlier it was reported that in January-September 2024, Ukrainian ports increased cargo transshipment by 1.8 times to 74 million tons.
It was also reported that the Cabinet of Ministers would allocate additional funds for the restoration of Odesa ports.
In January-June 2024, six Ukrainian ports increased cargo transshipment by 1.6 times compared to the same period in 2023 – up to 52.7 million tons, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reported, citing operational data.
“According to the operational data of USPA, in January-June 2024, the ports of Ukraine handled almost 52.7 million tons, compared to 31.3 million tons in 2023. Six months, six ports – 52.7 million tons,” the USPA said on Facebook on Monday.
As noted, more than half of the cargo (33.5 million tons) is agricultural products.
In June, seaports handled 6.7 million tons of cargo, which is 30% more than in June 2023. Of these, 4.1 million tons of agricultural products were exported.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, in January-April 2024, seaports handled 35 million tons of cargo. In particular, in January – 6.3 million tons (4.4 million tons of which were agricultural products), February – 7.9 million tons (5.2 million tons), March – 6.4 million tons (4.2 million tons), April – 7.7 million tons (5.1 million tons), May – 6.7 million tons (4.5 million tons).
The state intends to attract private investors to lend to projects for the repair, modernization, reconstruction, and construction of strategic port infrastructure facilities in Ukraine with the possibility of compensation for the funds spent through port dues.
The relevant provisions are contained in the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “Some issues of compensation for investments made by business entities in strategic port infrastructure facilities that are state-owned”, the text of which is posted on the website of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Health) for discussion.
The document provides for the approval of the procedure and conditions for concluding agreements on the basis of which investments made by business entities in strategic port infrastructure facilities are compensated, as well as amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 899 of October 3, 2012, according to which public sector entities may make expenditures on capital investments, in particular on port infrastructure facilities, in the absence of an approved financial plan.
It is noted that the amount of investment compensation should not exceed the amount of funds actually paid by the investor to finance the design or construction of port infrastructure facilities.
In addition, it is noted that the investor may be a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur. There may be several investors at one facility.
At the same time, the new procedure will not apply to legal relations involving business entities that make private investments in port infrastructure facilities on the basis of agreements concluded under public-private partnerships, including concession agreements and lease agreements for state property.
The Ministry of Reconstruction expects that the adoption of this resolution will help restore strategic port infrastructure facilities, accelerate the growth of maritime transport, improve the competitiveness of seaports and increase their investment attractiveness.
“Due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, there is a problem of insufficient funding for the maritime industry, in particular due to imperfect fiscal policy, which leads to a lack of funds at the state-owned enterprise Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA),” the explanatory note to the draft resolution says.
It is noted that the USPA has entered into contracts for a number of construction projects, but “due to lack of funds and the state’s dividend policy, it is not possible to implement even part of these projects.”
At the same time, the USPA is facing an acute issue of the need to reconstruct and maintain port infrastructure, including berthing facilities. As of February 24, 2022, the state-owned enterprise had 265 berths (cargo, auxiliary, passenger) located in 13 seaports of Ukraine. Of this number, 20 are unsuitable for normal operation, 37 require significant investment in the next five years, and more than 50 operate with low economic efficiency – they need to be restored through overhaul or reconstruction.
In addition, it is indicated that, according to preliminary calculations, in the period before the full-scale invasion, the need for USPA to finance projects for the reconstruction, modernization and construction of berths alone (more than 48 projects, of which 36 are for reconstruction and modernization) was estimated at UAH 12 billion over four years.
The ports of the Greater Odesa Ports have received three more bulk carriers that have passed through the temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy, said Andriy Klym, Head of the Sanctions and Freedom of Navigation Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute.
According to him, the vessels in question are Peter S (Greek shipowner), Xin Shun (Chinese shipowner) and Bull (Singaporean shipowner).
According to MarineTraffic, the 71.6 thousand dwt Peter S was heading to the Chornomorsk port under the flag of Liberia, and the 75.8 thousand dwt Xin Shun was heading to the Pivdennyi port under the flag of Panama.
Falcona with a deadweight of 82 thousand tons, according to the resource, arrived at the port of Odesa under the flag of Liberia.
Earlier on Thursday, two bulk carriers left the ports of Greater Odesa with cargo: Beaver with a deadweight of 81.8 thousand tons under the flag of Liberia (shipowner: Marshall Islands) and Castor with 78.9 thousand tons under the flag of Liberia (shipowner: Liberia).
As reported, since September 16, 23 vessels with a total deadweight of 898.3 thousand tons have arrived at the ports of Greater Odesa via the new Ukrainian corridor, while 14 vessels with a total deadweight of 466.9 thousand tons have left.
On Friday 11 vessels with 313.5 thousand tons of agricultural products left the ports of “Big Odessa” after three days of bad weather, when there was no traffic of vessels, said the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine.
“At once three bulk carriers are heading to African countries: the Lady Litel with 31 thousand tons of wheat for Libya, the East Wind 1 with 25 thousand tons for Tunisia, and the Lady Hatice with 11 thousand tons of food for Morocco,” the ministry noted on Facebook.
It also reported that the bulk carrier Antheia, chartered by the UN World Food Programme to deliver Ukrainian wheat to Afghanistan, moored in the port of Chornomorsk.
The agency said that in the ports involved in the “grain initiative”, there are 17 ships under processing, they are loaded with more than 519 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products, and another five ships are moving in the “grain corridor” for the loading.
The Ministry of Infrastructure noted that 104 vessels are waiting for the inspection of the Joint Coordinating Centre in the Bosphorus, while there were 98 on January 10 and 95 on December 26.
The agency stressed that for continuous movement in the grain corridor should be held at least 12 inspections per day.
In total, according to the department, since August 1, 644 ships that exported 17.3 million tons of food have left the ports of Greater Odessa.
