Traffic resumes from Ukrainian ports

Map of the Black Sea that shows shipping traffic a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a map of shipping traffic after the invasion where traffic stopped around Ukrainian ports.

The first ship left Ukraine’s Odesa port for Lebanon on Monday under a landmark deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to reopen grain and fertiliser exports through the Black Sea.

Ukraine's foreign minister called it “a day of relief for the world.”

Shipping to and from Ukrainian ports dropped off from late February, following Russia’s invasion and naval blockade.

If the deal holds, Ukraine’s resumed shipments under the deal struck last week are intended to ease the food crisis, including global grains prices that have risen since the Russian invasion.

The deal aims to ensure safe passage in and out of Odesa and the nearby Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi, setting targets at pre-war export levels of about 5 million metric tonnes of grains and fertilisers each month.

Weekly dry bulk cargo volumes at Ukrainian ports covered by the deal

Bar chart that shows weekly dry bulk cargo volumes iat the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi dropping to nothing when Russian invades Ukraine in late February.

The halt in maritime exports stranded an estimated 22 million tonnes of grain in Ukraine as of May. Experts say Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports is the biggest threat to Ukraine’s economy.

Prior to the war, Ukraine shipped 98% of its cereal and oilseed exports via the Black Sea, accounting for nearly a fifth of the country’s exports.

Philip Wasielewski, a U.S. marine officer and fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute said the blockade had been an “economic stranglehold on Ukraine.”

Moscow has denied responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.

However, trade from Russian Black Sea ports recovered in mid May after dropping in April, falling again slightly in recent weeks, according to VesselsValue, a London-based maritime intelligence provider.

Edited by

Jon McClure and Frank Jack Daniel