Ukrainian seaports have handled 40 million metric tons of cargo since the start of 2026, of which more than 20 million metric tons were grain, according to a statement released Thursday by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development.
“Despite constant shelling and security risks, the maritime sector remains resilient. The operation of the Ukrainian Maritime Corridor ensures the stable export of Ukrainian products to dozens of countries around the world, supporting both the national economy and global supply chains,” the release quotes Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery and Minister of Community and Territorial Development, as saying.
The ministry specified that since the beginning of this year alone, the enemy has launched more than 1,500 attack drones at Ukrainian ports.
In addition, since the start of the full-scale invasion, 966 port infrastructure facilities and more than 200 civilian vessels have been damaged or destroyed.
Furthermore, 257 civilians have been injured or killed as a result of attacks on Ukrainian ports.
“At the same time, the maritime sector remains resilient. The operation of the Ukrainian Maritime Corridor ensures the stable export of Ukrainian goods to dozens of countries around the world and supports global supply chains,” the statement reads.
As previously reported, Ukrainian ports handled 35.8% more cargo in April 2026 than in April 2025—8.2 million metric tons.
In the first quarter of 2026, Ukrainian ports reduced cargo handling by 8.3% compared to the same period in 2025, down to 21.1 million metric tons.
In 2025, cargo turnover at Ukraine’s seaports decreased by 15.9% compared to 2024, down to 81.7 million metric tons, Kuleba noted. According to him, agricultural products accounted for the bulk of cargo turnover—44.2 million metric tons, which is 26.3% less than in 2024; at the same time, container traffic increased by 66.1%—to 215.75 thousand
Cargo turnover at Ukrainian seaports reached 82.2 million tonnes in 2025, which was 95.36% of the plan, while the forecast cargo turnover (81.769 million tonnes) was fulfilled by 100.5%, according to the press service of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA)
‘Despite unprecedented security pressure, shelling of port infrastructure and mass air raid alerts, the planned cargo turnover targets for the year were exceeded by more than 95% of the forecast, which was set at 86.2 million tonnes for 2025,’ the agency wrote on Telegram.
The USPA noted that agricultural products remained the key basis for cargo turnover in 2025, accounting for 44.2 million tonnes, or 53.7% of the total volume. Container transport showed significant growth: 215,748 TEU were handled during the year, compared to 129,902 TEU a year earlier.
The USPA identified mass air raid alerts and strikes on port infrastructure as a particular challenge in 2025. In the Odesa region alone, air raid alerts were sounded more than 800 times, and the total downtime amounted to more than one month — minus one month of port operations.
‘Despite this, Ukrainian products were exported to 55 countries around the world,’ the USPA emphasised, thanking the Defence Forces, port workers, stevedoring companies and industry experts for their professionalism and endurance, as well as the Ukrainian Navy for ensuring the safety of shipping and the functioning of maritime corridors.
In August this year, the cargo turnover of Ukrainian ports amounted to 7 million tons, which is more than twice as much as in 2023, when it was recorded at 3.3 million tons, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) reported on its Facebook page.
“The leaders of cargo turnover are grain and ore cargo – 4 million tons (against 2.3 million tons in 2023) and 1.2 million tons (against 195 thousand tons in 2023), respectively,” the agency said.
At the same time, the cargo turnover through the Ukrainian sea corridor in August amounted to 5.9 mln tons, of which 3.6 mln tons were the products of Ukrainian farmers.
In total, in January-August 2024, Ukrainian ports handled almost 67 million tons of cargo, compared to 37.7 million tons in the same period a year earlier. The USPA summarized that 7769 vessels were handled compared to 9732 last year.
The cargo turnover of the Danube Region seaports in January-November 2023 reached 29.4 million tons, which is more than double the figure for the same period in 2022 (14.5 million tons), said Yuriy Lytvyn, Chairman of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, at the final meeting of the team of the Ministry of Community, Territorial and Infrastructure Development on Tuesday.
According to Lytvyn, the number of vessels handled in the Danube ports in 11 months of this year increased by 68.6% – from 8,944 thousand to 13,045 thousand, while in 11 months of 2021 there were 3,252 thousand.
The Head of USPA clarified that almost half of the cargo turnover – 14.1 million tons – was grain, another 2.6 million tons – vegetable oil, 1.9 million tons – oil products, 1.7 million tons – ore, and another 9 million tons – other cargo.
He also noted that in 11 months of 2013, 23 new terminals and 20 new transshipment points were opened in the Danube ports, and the number of pilots increased from 14 to 78.
The conference noted that the Ukrainian corridor under the control of the Ukrainian Navy in the Black Sea ports of Greater Odesa (Odesa, Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi), which became fully operational in August-September, handled 6.4 million tons of cargo as of November, including 4 million tons in November.
Lytvyn added that in the first 11 months of 2023, all Ukrainian ports handled 52.8 million tons of cargo, up from 45.6 million tons in 2022, including 47.9 million tons of exports and 4.6 million tons of imports.
The cargo turnover of the seaports of the Danube Region in January-October 2023 amounted to 27.6 million tons, which is 2.2 times more than in the same period of 2021 (12.6 million tons), said Yuriy Lytvyn, Head of the State Enterprise “Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority”.
At the “Infrastructure Day 2023” organized by the European Business Association in Kyiv on Friday, he recalled that in 10 months of 2021, cargo turnover in the Danube ports amounted to only 4.4 million tons.
According to Lytvyn, the number of vessels handled in Danube ports in 10 months of this year increased by 54.3% compared to 10 months of last year – from 7,780 thousand to 12,005 thousand, while in 10 months of 2021 there were 2,897 thousand.
The Head of USPA clarified that out of 40 million tons of cargo for 10 months of this year and last year, 18.3 million tons were grain cargo, 3.6 million tons – ore, 3.2 million tons – vegetable oil, 2.6 million tons – oil products and 12.4 million tons – other cargo.
The Infrastructure Day also noted that the Ukrainian corridor under the control of the Ukrainian Navy to the Black Sea ports of Greater Odesa (Odesa, Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi), which was fully operational in August-September, exported 1.994 million tons in October, and 1.591 million tons since the beginning of November, compared to 0.278 million tons in September and only 0.06 million tons in August.
Seaports in 2022 transshipped 59 million tons of cargo, providing 54% of exports from the country, compared to the indicator in 2021 – 153.7 million tons – a drop of 2.6 times, the Administration of Ukrainian Sea Ports (AMPU) said in a message on Facebook.
According to it, 47.8 million tons of cargo was shipped for export, which is almost 2.5 times less than in pre-war 2021, while imports were almost 4 times less – 6.2 million tons.
It is specified that the turnover of cargo of the Odessa port in comparison with indicators of 2021 decreased from 22.56 million tons to 7.69 million tons, port “Pivdenniy” – from 53.47 million tons to 15.28 million tons, “Chernomorsk” – from 25.63 million tons to 11.8 million tons. – from 25.63 million tons to 11.76 million tons.
Ukrainian ports mostly transshipped grain cargoes, which provided almost half of the total volume – 28.8 million tons, bulk cargoes amounted to 4.8 million tons.
AMPU emphasized the great importance of the agreement on the “grain initiative”, which allowed to unblock the work of ports “Big Odessa”, and if it were not for the actions of Russia, which blocks the “grain corridor”, the performance of the agreement could have been higher, the report said.
Administration specified that 614 vessels with 16 million tons of agricultural products for 40 countries have been sent for export within the framework of “grain initiative” since August 1. From the port of Odessa – 188 ships with 4.2 million tons, from the port of Chernomorsk – 261 vessels with 6.4 million tons, from Pivdenniy port – 165 vessels with 5.5 million tons.
One third of the vessels – 281 with 7.2 million tons of cargo was bound for Asia, and slightly less – 246 vessels with 6.8 million tons – for Europe, while 87 vessels with 2.1 million tons headed for Africa.
AMPU said that 2022 was planned as the year of the port infrastructure development, but the war has radically changed plans, and with the blocking of most Ukrainian ports, the administration focused on the development of transport logistics of the Danube region.
As a result, the volume of cargo handling in the port of Reni has grown to 6.82 million tons from 1.37 million tons in 2021, port Izmail – to 8.89 million tons from 4 million tons, Ust-Dunaysk – to 785 thousand tons from 64 thousand tons, which were the best results for all the years of Independence.
It was possible to achieve better results due to the development of public-private partnership and maximum business deregulation, the report says, as well as due to the dredging works, which were carried out for the first time in many years near the deep-water berths of Izmail and Reni. The total volume of operational dredging in port Izmail was 710 thousand cubic meters, in port Reni – 130 thousand cubic meters with a total volume of 280 thousand cubic meters, which is planned to be done until the end of II quarter of 2023. Dredging works were carried out by AMPU’s own forces with the participation of branch “Dredging fleet”.
AMPU noted that despite the fact that the Danube ports attracted all the available facilities for cargo handling, there is a potential for development in 2023. It will be realized by modernization of port infrastructure, construction of new terminals, continuation of dredging works and attraction of investments.
