Danube ports received a record number of ships per day since the beginning of the war

Ukrainian Danube ports of Izmail, Reni and Ust-Dunaisk received a record number of ships per day since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure’s press service reported about it.

During the day, on August 27, 2022, 11 ships with a total cargo volume of 45,000 tons passed through the Bystre estuary and the Romanian Sulina canal in the direction of the Ukrainian Danube ports. In particular, 7 vessels passed through the Bystre estuary of the Danube – Black Sea waterway, and through the Romanian Sulina canal – 4.

“Since March, we have already managed to transport more than 4 million tons of agricultural products through the Danube ports – now this is more than by all other types of transport. If in March our ports processed only 16.5 thousand tons of grain for export, then already in July the index was almost 1.4 million tons. These are excellent results, but certainly not final,” commented the Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.

As GMK Center reported earlier, Ukrainian ports on the Danube increased transshipment of cargo by 3.7 times compared to March – to 1.4 million tons.

In recent years, the share of Danube ports in the total Ukraine’s freight shipment was at the level of 2.5-4.2%. The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine plans to increase the throughput capacity of Ukrainian ports on the Danube by 1.7 times, to 25 million tons per year. But even with maximum efforts, the Danube ports will not be able to handle all Ukrainian export – the country’s Black Sea ports must be fully unlocked.

Also, the Ministry of Infrastructure also plans to dredge the path through the Bystre estuary, because now vessels only with a draft of no more than 3.9 m can pass through the canal. This will affect the carrying capacity of vessels. Today they load 1.5-2 thousand tons and will be able to load up to 5 thousand tons.