UGA continues to work to expand the capacity of the Danube grain export route

The Ukrainian Grain Association continues to work on expanding opportunities for Ukrainian grain exports. The UGA President Mykola Gorbachov took part in the meeting within the Danube Cluster on expanding the transport capacity of the Danube Route.

The meeting was organised by Alan Baron, Head of the Transport Networks of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, and was attended by representatives of Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and other EU countries, including transport ministers and heads of railway companies.

At the meeting, Mykola Gorbachov presented a proposal to organise an anchorage – a transshipment in Romanian territorial waters. This kind of transshipment from grain barges to large Panamax vessels will significantly increase the capacity of the Danube route for Ukrainian grain exports. According to preliminary estimates, Ukraine’s Danube ports could double their grain exports as a result of this decision.  The parties also discussed the possibility of separating the entry and exit of Ukrainian Danube ports – barges will enter the river for loading through the Ukrainian mouth of Bystre and exit to the Black Sea through the Romanian Sulinsky Canal. The possibility of using larger vessels that could pass through the Sulina Canal was also discussed, in particular, the movement of a 24,000-tonne deadweight vessel was tested.

The President of the UGA stressed the benefits of such a solution:

• rapid increase in export volumes
• no restrictions on the size of vessels and their deadweight
• no queues
• formation of grain consignments for transshipment from several Danube ports at once.

In addition, the Romanian side will simultaneously increase its revenues from port dues and relieve its ports directly, as grain carriers will not visit the port.

Also, at the Danube Cluster meeting, Oleg Tofilat, CEO of the Moldovan Railways, said that the Moldovan side was ready to reduce tariffs for the transit of Ukrainian grain through its territory to the level of the Ukrainian railway tariffs. This is exactly what the UGA proposed early in order to establish and increase the transit of Ukrainian grain by the Moldovan railway, in particular to the Ukrainian Danube port of Reni. This solution will also allow the Moldovan port of Giurgiulesti to develop.

It is worth reminding that the implementation of these measures will allow Ukrainian Danube ports to double the volume of Ukrainian grain transshipment for export – from 2 MMT (transshipment volume in May 2023) to 4 MMT.

Tags: Sulina Canal, Ukraine, exports, grain, Romania, Black Sea, railway, ports, Ukrainian Grain Association, UGA, Danube