Dozens of Grain Ships Stuck on the Danube

About 70 vessels intended to load and export Ukrainian grain are waiting near the Sulin Canal to access ports on the Danube. The delays stem mainly from an acute shortage of pilots, the prioritization of cargo other than fuel and frequent halts to operations caused by air raid alerts following Russian attacks on Black Sea ports.

Shipping capacity to Ukraine has dropped to just two or three vessels a day, according to analysts at the consulting firm ASAP Agri, who estimate that each day of delay adds up to $8,000 in extra costs.

The situation could worsen in the coming days due to forecast bad weather and the anticipated closure of the canal.

Danube exports remain well below the peaks reached in 2022 and 2023, although rail shipments of grain to ports have risen month-over-month. Ukraine exported 539,000 metric tons of grain in the first half of August, according to Ukraine's ministry of agriculture, down sharply from 1.73 million metric tons in the same period last year.

(Reuters, max)