Greece is ready to provide its ports to export Ukrainian grain – PM

Greece is ready to provide an alternative route to export Ukrainian wheat and other grains through its northern ports of Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis.

Rubryka reports, referring to the Greek publication Kathimerini, that Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis offered his country's support at the informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Kyiv on Monday.

According to Kathimerini, the proposal reflects the plan the Greek government has already discussed with its partners in the EU and non-member countries.

The developed plan suggests transporting products by rail through Romania and Bulgaria to Thessaloniki and Alexandroupolis. Merchant ships belonging to Greece would play a very important role in grain transportation, as they did when exports through the Black Sea were possible before the Russian invasion and blockade.

While the two Greek ports can accommodate the vessels transporting the grain, the capacity of the railway network in northern Greece is limited.

This plan can push the country to modernize railways, such as the line from Alexandroupolis to Ormenio, the last station before Bulgaria, very close to the Turkish border.

Gerapetritis told his EU colleagues that Greece was ready to contribute to solving the problem and focused on the "enormous consequences" of Russia's withdrawing from the grain deal, especially for countries in the Global South.

Kathimerini reports that there are alternative routes to the Greek plan through the Baltic and Adriatic seas. Poland is promoting the Baltic option with Lithuania, although a Polish port such as Gdańsk is a much more likely export point than the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda. The Adriatic option is focused on the Croatian port of Rijeka, where grain is transported by train through Hungary and Slovakia.

After the collapse of the grain agreement, Ukraine began to use other export routes, such as the Danube River, which Russia has repeatedly attacked in recent months. Despite this, vessels began returning to Ukrainian Black Sea ports.