Grain corridor: more than 120 vessels are waiting in line

UkrAgroConsult

Since August 1, 2022, 17.8 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products have been exported from the ports of Greater Odesa to 40 countries. This is stated in the report of the Ministry of Development of Territories, Communities and Infrastructure.

“With the corridor fully operational, the volume of Ukrainian exports to world markets should have amounted to 25-29 million tons. Thus, since October, Ukrainian ports have been forced to operate at half their capacity, the volume of the fleet entering ports for loading has decreased, and exports have decreased by 3 million tons per month,” the ministry said.

The main reason for this is the deliberate sabotage by the Russian side of ship inspections in the Bosphorus, which leads to a consistently long queue of more than 100 ships.

“Since October 2022, the Russian delegation to the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) has been artificially slowing down the process of ship inspections. First, as soon as exports began to grow, the Russian side reduced the number of inspection teams from 5 to 3 without any explanation. Secondly, the time for the inspections themselves is artificially increased by checking the performance of vessels that are not regulated by the JCC documents and have nothing to do with the grain deal. It takes from 4 hours to check one vessel, and 5-7 inspections are carried out per day, while the minimum required number is 16-18,” the Ministry explains.

As of January 18, 121 vessels are waiting for the JCC inspection in the Bosphorus (28 with agricultural products on board, 93 vessels sailing to ports for loading). The average waiting time is 2 to 5 weeks, which also leads to millions of dollars in losses for cargo owners. The queue has been observed since November 2022.

“This is reflected in export volumes. Thus, in November, ports exported 47% less agricultural products than in October, when these problems began. While in October, almost 2 million tons of agricultural products were under-exported, in November and December, the figure was already 3 million tons per month. This trend continues in January,” the Ministry summarized.

Tags: Ukraine, export, grain, war, grain corridor