The Romanian government has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Danube Logistics, the operator of the Giurgiulești International Free Port in the Republic of Moldova, from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The Moldovan Ministry of Economy has confirmed the legality of the transaction, emphasizing that it concerns only the private port operator and does not affect state-owned land. Final approval of the price is expected on February 11, 2026.
The Romanian side plans to invest more than €24 million in the modernization and development of Giurgiulești’s infrastructure: the goal is to integrate the port into Romania’s logistics network, expand its capacity, and strengthen the region’s role in the Danube and Black Sea transport corridors.
The port of Giurgiulești is located on a short section of Moldova’s access to the Danube, near the border with Romania and Ukraine, and is Moldova’s only port with access to sea and river routes.
The EBRD has previously noted the port’s strategic importance for Moldova’s foreign trade (over 70% of water import and export flows) and its potential as a hub that could be in demand for regional logistics, including future projects to rebuild Ukraine.
The total volume of cargo handled by Ukraine’s water logistics in 2025 decreased to 76.1 million tons, according to Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine – Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksiy Kuleba, which is 21.7% less than the previously announced results for 2024.
“In 2025, water logistics remained one of the key areas of export and import. The total volume of transshipment through water logistics for the year amounted to 76.1 million tons of cargo, of which 67.8 million tons were provided by the ports of Greater Odessa,” Kuleba wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.
Based on data for 2024, the reduction in transshipment in the ports of Greater Odessa amounted to 15.1%.
As Kuleba noted, since the launch of the maritime corridor in August 2023, 163 million tons of cargo have been transported, including 100 million tons of agricultural products.
The deputy prime minister specified that more than 8.2 million tons of cargo were transshipped through the Danube ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ust-Dunaysk during the year, while in 2024 this figure was 17.3 million tons.
Kuleba noted that the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company saw a 3.8-fold increase in the average number of caravans, a 43% increase in average monthly transport volumes, a twofold increase in the share of return cargo, and a 1.5-fold reduction in operating losses.
Separately, the Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery added that the port of Chornomorsk has begun preparing public-private partnership projects with a potential investment of up to $300 million.
In addition, $35 million in grant funding has been attracted under the RELINC program for the development of Danube ports and inland waterways, as well as EUR50 million in EU funding for the modernization of port and logistics infrastructure, Kuleba emphasized.
In 2023, Ukrainian seaports handled 62 million tons of cargo, of which 56.3 million tons were for export.
In 2024, according to the State Enterprise “Administration of Seaports of Ukraine,” Ukrainian ports handled 97.2 million tons of cargo.
This week, the Ukrainian market continued to see a gradual decline in feed corn prices on a FOB Black Sea basis, according to the information and analytical agency APK-Inform.
“Prices remained under pressure throughout the week due to slow sea export rates as a result of systematic attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukraine’s port and energy infrastructure, which led to shipment disruptions, which, in turn, restrained importers’ demand,” analysts said.
At the same time, they noted that corn remains the most active export crop for Ukraine, but this has not been able to offset the factors putting pressure on prices.
Indicative bid/ask prices for feed corn with delivery in December-January from Black Sea ports fell by 1-3 USD/ton in less than a week under the influence of these factors to 210-218 and 214-222 USD/ton, respectively, according to APK-Inform.
The difficult situation in the ports of Odessa and logistics problems are limiting activity in the oilseed sector in Ukraine, according to the information and analytical agency APK-Inform.
“Russian army missile attacks on Ukrainian ports, damage to terminals, warehouses, and other infrastructure will cause a reduction in shipments in the coming months and may destabilize the situation on the global agricultural market,” analysts explained.
They noted that last week, price growth on the Ukrainian soybean export market stalled, which was due to both missile attacks on ports and pressure from the global market, despite the fact that demand for Ukrainian soybeans remained quite high and export rates grew in the first half of December.
Experts added that demand prices for GM soybeans in Ukrainian ports remained at their highest levels since August 2024 – $420-425 per ton (CPT port).
“The European Union has finally postponed the implementation of the EUDR regulation for another year, which will allow companies to increase supplies of soybeans and soybean meal in this direction,” APK-Inform predicts.
Three cargo ships carrying more than 70,000 tons of wheat arrived at the port of Tartus in Syria as part of a program to strengthen strategic grain reserves and meet domestic market needs, local publication sana.sy reported, citing information from the port administration.
“Three ships loaded with more than 70,000 tons of wheat arrived at the port of Tartus for the General Directorate of Grain Trade and Processing as part of the government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen strategic grain reserves and meet the needs of the local wheat market,” the publication noted.
Yousef Arnous, the port’s operations manager, said that two ships brought grain from Ukraine and one from Russia, and they’re currently being unloaded. Part of the cargo will be stored in the port’s grain silos, while the rest will be transported by truck and rail to meet local market needs and ensure food security.
He added that a fourth ship with 26,000 tons of wheat is waiting to be unloaded, and there are signs that additional ships loaded with approximately 50,000 tons will arrive in the near future.
Nidal Abdel Kader, assistant director of the Tartus branch of the railway, said that one of the ships, called Golden Nour, arrived in Tartus with a cargo of more than 30,000 tons of wheat. Part of this cargo was delivered to the Ash-Shinshar elevators, and this is already the fourth delivery in the last period.
The publication recalled that on November 5, four ships carrying 94,000 tons of wheat arrived at the port of Tartus to replenish strategic reserves and meet the needs of mills in various provinces of Syria.
Thanks to the Ukrainian maritime corridor, the ports of Greater Odessa have handled over 146.5 million tons of cargo and processed 5,596 vessels since August 2023, including 1,528 through the port of Odessa, according to Dmytro Nazarenko, head of the Odessa branch of the State Enterprise “Administration of Seaports of Ukraine.”
“Despite all the challenges, Ukrainian seaports remain an integral part of the country’s economic stability. Their security is not only a matter of logistics, but also the survival of Ukraine’s export model,” he said at a round table of representatives of the maritime and port industry, which took place within the framework of the BALTEXPO 2025 International Maritime and Military Exhibition in Gdansk (Poland).
Nazarenko noted that since the start of full-scale aggression in Ukraine, more than 500 port infrastructure facilities and 116 civilian vessels have been damaged or destroyed, 157 civilians have been injured, and 161 facilities have been damaged directly on the territory of the Odesa seaport.
The USPA representative presented the European community with infrastructure projects for the Port of Odesa and plans for their further implementation, and invited international investors to cooperate.
