Traders increase plans for shipments through Black Sea ports, despite constant Russian attacks

On the night of October 10, the Russian Federation attacked southern Ukraine with 36 "Shahed" attack drones launched from Cape Chauda (temporarily occupied Crimea). Defense forces of Ukraine managed to destroy 27 UAVs within Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, in particular, in Odesa alone, air defense forces shot down 23 Shaheds. Unfortunately, the logistical infrastructure of the region was hit, but the most important thing is that people were not injured.

The Agricensus analysis shows that shipping activity in deep-water Ukrainian Black Sea ports has increased to the level of 800,000 tons on vessels that are already loaded or are waiting to be loaded in the coming days, which corresponds to the level of activity in the first days of the grain agreement.

On August 10, the authorities of Ukraine announced the creation of a humanitarian export corridor that will ensure the safety of cargo transported from/to the ports of Pivdenny, Odesa, and Chornomorsk. The first ships entered the ports on September 17, and since then the activity of the movement has increased significantly. Already 8 ships have successfully left the ports, loaded with 242,000 tons of grain and iron ore. Another 14 ships have already arrived or are planning to arrive at the ports of Ukraine in the near future to transport at least 560,000 tons of various cargoes.

The market expects an increase in the flow of goods and the number of ships that dare to enter the ports of Ukraine, as confidence in the work of the new corridor increases. Already now, the volume of cargo that will be delivered by the newly booked ships has approached 500,000 tons.

It is still unclear whether the volume of exports through the humanitarian corridor will remain as it is now, or will grow as it happened after the signing of the grain agreement, as there are certain problems, in particular, the presence of Russian military forces in the Black Sea.

We will remind that in September 2022, Ukraine exported 3.9 million tons of cargo through the grain corridor, compared to 500,000 tons shipped through the humanitarian corridor in September 2023.

In general, in the current season, grain exports from Ukraine amounted to 6.9 million tons (9.6 million tons last year), and the main export routes were the Danube ports.