Ukrainian Danube ports have experienced 100% increase in cargo handling in past ten months

Photo: open sources

Alvina Kaminska

For 2023, the Ukrainian Danube ports of Ukraine increased cargo handling by 2.2 times to 27.6 million tons compared to the same period last year.

The head of the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine State Enterprise, Yuriy Lytvyn, announced this, Ukrinform reports.

As mentioned, the ports on the Danube (Reni, Izmail, and Ust-Dunaisk) saw a significant increase in cargo handling from 12.6 million tons to 27.6 million tons from January to October 2023.

"Compared to January-October 2021, when only 4.4 million tons were processed in the Danube ports, cargo turnover increased 6.3 times," the head of the enterprise emphasized.

Lytvyn says that out of 40.2 million tons of cargo for January-October of this and last year:

• 18.3 million tons fell on grain cargoes,
• 3.6 million tons – for ore,
• 3.2 million tons – for oil,
• 2.6 million tons – for oil products,
• 12.4 million tons – for other cargoes.

​​So, as the head of the Danube ports emphasized, the number of vessels processed in the Danube ports for ten months of this year increased by 54.3% compared to the same period last year – up to 12 thousand.

For reference:

The Ukrainian Danube ports have joined the humanitarian initiative, "Grain from Ukraine," aimed at providing grain aid to African and Asian countries.

In the summer of 2022, Ukraine began to restore and expand some of its long-decommissioned river ports on the Danube to facilitate grain export in the conditions of the Russian blockade of the Black Sea.

In November, Ukraine's government decided to expand the water area of seaports on the Danube. It was about the port in Izmail, Reni, and Ust-Dunaisk port.

In January 2023, the Ust-Dunaisk seaport was privatized for the first time in Ukraine, and its starting price tripled during the auction.

Recently, the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company launched the first barge of the SLG type, which has a larger capacity and enables the transportation of a larger cargo volume.

After withdrawing from the "grain agreement," Russia constantly attacks the port and grain infrastructure of Ukraine. In particular, the ports of the Odesa region came under attack. In addition, the occupiers repeatedly attacked the Izmail seaport, which is located near the border with Romania.

Russia has repeatedly tried to stop the operation of the Danube ports by attacking with missiles and UAVs but has never succeeded.