Danube ports have reached a record 12 ship calls and 90,000 tons per day following the restoration of the declared water depths and the declared draft of 6.5 meters in the Ukrainian section of the River Danube, experts at the Danube Commission on Hydraulic Engineering said at a recent meeting.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Community Development, Territories, and Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
According to the statement, 840 ships have passed through the Bystre estuary since the opening of the Bystre canal, which has allowed the cargo turnover to increase by 10 million tons.
"Danube ports have reached record numbers of 12 ship calls and 90,000 tons per day following the restoration of the declared water depths and the declared draft of 6.5 meters in the Ukrainian section of the River Danube. The elimination of natural silting and maintenance of the estuary’s declared water depths is something that happened every year before the war and is necessary for further development of shipping in the Danube region," the ministry said.
In addition, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Dmytro Barinov, emphasized at the meeting that the Danube region remains the only stable route for exporting agricultural products from Ukraine at a time when Russia is obstructing the inspection of ships under the Black Sea Grain Initiative and threatening to block the implementation of the initiative unilaterally. Consequently, according to him, the Danube region is an important element in ensuring global food security.
Ukraine’s representatives informed the other participants in the meeting about the operational dredging of Danube ports to restore their rated performance characteristics.
"This is stipulated in the Convention Regarding the Regime of Navigation on the Danube, which requires Danube states to maintain their sections of the Danube in a navigable condition for river-going and, on the appropriate sections, for sea-going vessels. It also requires them to perform the works necessary for the maintenance and improvement of navigation conditions," the ministry said.
