The ports of Greater Odesa processed 77 ships with 3 million tons of agricultural products in January, compared with 94 ships with 3.7 million tons in December 2022. Export volumes fell by 25% in January.

The Ukrainian Seaports Authority (USPA) announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the statement, the rate of departure of ships from the ports remains critically low at 2.5 ships per day, compared with 5.7 in October.

"The capacity utilization of the Ukrainian ports participating in the Black Sea Grain Initiative has dropped to 30%. We are increasingly feeling the consequences of the obstruction of the effective operation of the ‘grain corridor.’ Because the Russian side is delaying ships in the Bosporus, Ukraine monthly loses the opportunity to export the appropriate volumes of grain products to the countries that desperately need it," the USPA’s acting head Oleksii Vostrykov said, commenting on the results of the ports’ operations in January.

As of 4 February this year, 120 vessels (98 inbound and 22 outbound) were awaiting inspection in Turkey’s territorial waters. Russia’s representatives in the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s Joint Coordination Commission (JCC) continue to slow down the registration of vessels for passage through the “grain corridor.”

"With over 80 vessels declared, Russian representatives are registering 2–3 vessels per day without explanation. Only 3 vessels out of the required 9 pass inspection in the Bosporus per day, obtaining permission to sail to Ukrainian ports for loading. The vast majority of countries are receiving Ukrainian agricultural products with huge time delays and cargo owners are incurring huge losses because of the idling of ships in the Bosporus," the USPA said.

In the six months since the launch of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, 691 ships have left the ports of Greater Odesa (285 from the Chornomorsk port, 215 from the Odesa port, and 191 from the Pivdennyi port).

Agricultural products were exported from these seaports to countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe (7.3 million tons from the Chornomorsk port, 5.2 million tons from the Odesa port, and 6.6 million tons from the Pivdennyi port).

According to the USPA, this figure would be over 30 million tons had the humanitarian maritime corridor been operating efficiently.